Cancellation of leave of all essential services staff ordered: NDMA cleaning only three KMC storm water drains: Murad

HYDERABAD: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that out of 38 storm water drains of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), only three have been given to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for removing sludge, and cleaning of the rest of the drains has been undertaken by the provincial government.

"I have been on the roads for the last two days. On Monday I toured Karachi and on Tuesday visited Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas to review rain emergency arrangements and mobilize the departments/organizations concerned to implement a contingency plan," he said while talking to the media at the commissioner's office here on Tuesday evening.

He was accompanied by Local Government Minister Nasir Shah and MPAs Sharjeel Inam Memon, Jam Khan Shoro, Abdul Jabbar and others. The chief minister said that on July 26 and 27 Karachi received heavy rains, and so some of the drains got choked.

"At this the prime minister taking notice sent the chairman of NDMA to help the provincial government," he said and added he was thankful to the PM and the NDMA for extending a helping hand, but "if the prime minister is really sincere in helping his government, he would finance the mega-projects instead of giving small drainage and water supply schemes for a few streets of Karachi," he said.

To a question, the chief minister said that they [the federal government] wanted to engage them in a media war, but "we have a lot of work to redress public problems and could not spare time for their irresponsible statements and discussions".

The chief minister said that out of 26 points/pumping stations of WASA, 23 had been provided with dual power connections so that they couldn't fail to pump out rain water. He said that rain water could not be disposed of "in gravity" but it was always pumped out due to the peculiar location of the city. "I have held a meeting here today with all the stakeholders, including HMC, HESCO, WASA, irrigation, deputy commissioner and commissioner, to review their rain emergency arrangements and address the shortcoming, if any," he said and added that he had directed the divisional administration to remain on their toes to manage heavy downpour.

To a question, the chief minister said that he released Rs70 million for Hyderabad division, of which Rs40 million had been earmarked for district Hyderabad, Rs5 million for Badin and Rs2.5 million for Tando Mohammad Khan for cleaning of drains and monsoon preparation.

He added that Rs20 million had been released to DC Hyderabad for cleaning of drains and Rs5 million disbursed to HMC and WASA to meet expenditures on account of hiring of standby generators and purchasing of fuel.

The chief minister said that there had been some Public Health Engineering department schemes in the rural areas of Hyderabad division which needed to be properly functional. "I am sending Minister of PHE, Shabbir Bijarani, to Hyderabad on Wednesday to meet with the divisional administration and inspect all drainage schemes so that they can operate at their full capacity," he said.

Earlier, the commissioner of Hyderabad, while briefing the chief minister, said that districts of Thatta, Sujawal and Badin shared a 100-km coastline right from Bambhore to Sajanwari and Kharochhan.

He added that many villages situated at Gharo, Juho, Keti Bandar and Sajwari had been protected from sea water through katcha embankment. At this the chief minister said that the embankment had been strengthened to sustain pressure of high tide during heavy rains. It was pointed out in the meeting that SIM drain had not been de-silted as yet.

At this the chief minister directed the irrigation department to start de-silting the drain from tomorrow. The chief minister directed the HESCO chief to ensure uninterrupted power supply to all the pumping stations of the city.

MIRPURKHAS: The chief minister during his visit to Mirpurkhas directed the divisional administration to cancel leave of all the staff of essential services during the on-going monsoon season. The cancellation of leave order would be applicable all over Sindh, he said.

The Commissioner of Mirpurkhas, Wahab Shaikh, told the chief minister that district-wise resources had been made available. There are three districts in Mirpurkhas where 89 dewatering pumps have been made operational.

The CM was told that Mirpurkhas division had 223.19-km-long drains with a capacity of 782.70 cusecs of design discharge. The chief minister directed the divisional administration of Mirpurkhas to monitor weather forecast regularly and also monitor canal gauges properly so that surplus supplies could be diverted to Ranto, Ajhu, Kalankar and Kakahu escapades as first priority.

He also directed the administration to divert surplus supplies to Dhoro Puran and Dhoro Hakro. The chief minister visited Dhoro Puran Outfall Drain where de-silting was in progress.

COMPLAINTS: The people of Mirpurkhas and Hyderabad divisions, including elected representatives, complained against HESCO authorities for resorting to 18-hour-long load-shedding.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020