Ibad inspects Muharram arrangements

Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan had a three-hour long visit to the city late on Friday night to review Muharram arrangements as well as ongoing development works in different areas.
His unplanned tour, starting shortly after midnight spurred a sudden activity among concerned officials to complete the work before Ashura days so that Alam, Tazia and Zuljinnah processions could pass off the designated routes without impediments.
Accompanied by Advisor Home Waseem Akhtar, Advisor Information Salahuddin Haider, DCO Fazlur Rehman and Project Director Tameer-e-Karachi programme, Rauf Akhtar Farooqi, the Governor covered an area of nearly 50 kilometers to have a self-appraisal about latest situation.
At places on Shahrah-e-Pakistan in Federal 'B' Area, he found leaking pipelines and instructed the officials to immediately plug the same before these could inundate or destroy the main road.
He was told that on his orders, pursued by City Nazim Mustafa Kamal, areas around 61 Imambargahs upgraded, streetlights installed and 116 roads in Ancholi and other areas carpeted for smooth traffic flow.
In Ancholi alone some 2.9 million sq. ft. of roads were carpeted at a cost of Rs 9 million and a total of Rs 320 million were spent in the last three to four months on laying 1200 sq. ft. of asphalt, 600 new lights installed and over 3 km of roads either upgraded or carpeted within one week.
These included Martin Road, Business Recorder Road and areas near Sohrab Goth. The governor visited each and every area stopping at places to speak to people gathering on both sides of roads despite odd hours and cheering him.
He issued on the spot instructions to officials to open the overpass within two days to help unhindered movement of traffic on 9th and 10th of Moharram-ul-Haram.
He made it clear to CCPO, Azhar Farooqi, DIG Operations Karachi Mushtaq Shah and DIG Traffic Falak Khurshid that traffic on both days should flow uninterruptedly and alternate routes should be ready to cope with any bottlenecks.
The governor intended visiting city areas on three nights to ensure proper arrangements for Muharram and maximum facility to mourners and the general public. "God willing, everything will go all right," he told officials and newsmen at the end of his whirlwind tour.