KARACHI: Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Maqbool Baqar has brought all the civic agencies, provincial as well as federal, to resolve issues of their jurisdictions so that the plight of the city in terms of provision of water, cleanliness, fixing of overflowing gutters, repairing of dilapidated roads, streets, footpaths and streetlights could be improved.
“Karachi is one of the largest cities of the world, but our civic agencies have left no stone unturned to deface it,” he said and added that the agencies responsible for providing civic services in the city keep fighting on the jurisdiction issue and the condition of the city keep deteriorating day by day which is intolerable,” he said.
The meeting was attended by Mayor Karachi Murtaza Wahab, Secretary Finance Kazim Jatoi, Secretary Local govt Manzoor Shaikh, Secretary Works Nawaz Sohoo, Commissioner Karachi Saleem Rajput, Secretary Transport Asad Zamin, DGs of KDA, LDA, MDA, COO water board, deputy commissioners, representatives of cantonments boards, KE, MD solid waste management, Cable operators, and others.
The CM said that no civic agency was working in the interest of the city and its people and under the garb of jurisdiction they keep passing on the buck when asked about their performance.
“The roads are dilapidated, walkways are under encroachment, water is theft, transport is not properly regulated, people have no water to drink, gutters are overflowing, solid waste is not working, streets lights are out of order, encroachment is a big issue,” he said and added that the concerned agencies, district administration have to resolve these issues.
District East: DC East Altaf Shaikh told the CM that his district has four subdivisions – Firozabad, Jamshed Quarters, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Gulzar-e-Hijri. Almost all the subdivisions have issues with street lights, open manholes, road patching, garbage lifting, out-of-order pumping stations, and choked or broken sewerage lines.
The issue of incomplete work on KCR (Old) at 13-D also came under discussion which has created traffic and issues and issues for the people. The CM directed the secretary Transport to talk to the contractors to complete the work.
Murtaza Wahab, the KMC Mayor, told the CM that scheme-33 has no sewerage system and is still deprived of the facilities such as carpeting of the roads and walkways. The CM directed the Mayor and the concerned to improve the condition of Scheme 33 at least lifting of garbage and regular sweeping must be ensured.
He directed the Mayor to get a scheme worked out for providing all the facilities, including water and sewerage for Scheme 33. It was pointed out that the work on the construction of the Red Line has created a mess in the entire area from Malir Cantt to Hassan Square.
The entire road is dug up and traffic jams have become a serious problem. To this question, the CM was told that the revised PC-I of the Red Line project has been sent to the federal government for approval from the ECNEC.
The ECNEC has caused delays, therefore the project has become an issue for the residents of the areas. At this, the CM directed his principal secretary to talk to the Planning Commission and he would write a DO letter to the Prime Minister with the request to emancipate people of the area by approving the PC-I.
District West: DC West Ahmad Siddiqui gave a presentation to the CM. The District West has three sub-divisions - Manghopir, Mominabad and Orangi where the condition of main roads, streets, footpaths, street lights, manholes and drainage lines needed a lot of improvement.
The TMC Mominabad has nine Union Committees and all of them needed a sewerage system, desilting nullahs, and streetlights, covering of manholes, repair of link roads, and repair/construction of paver blocks.
The TMC Oragni has eight UCs, and TMC Manghopir has 16 UCs that need similar facilities. All the nine pumping stations of TMC Mominabad were working but TMC Orangi’s two pumping stations, out of four, were functional. TMC Manghopir station is under construction.
The performance of the solid waste management board in the district was termed unsatisfactory, the CM directed SSWMB to work properly and keep him posting their progress reports. The CM was told that the Towns have the authority to collect property tax, license fees, and other sources. At this, the CM directed the Towns to improve their financial position and deliver.
The water board COO told the CM that the Lyari pumping station faced severe load shedding, therefore disposal of wastewater remained a challenge. He disclosed that when the KWSB requested the KE to declare the Lyari pumping stations free of load shedding in return the KE sent them a bill of Rs90 million bill to provide them uninterrupted power line. At this, the CM directed KE to resolve the issue and report him.
Kiamari: At the outset two of the DC West and DC Kiamari told the CM that their districts were facing an acute shortage of water. To a question, the COO of the Water Board Asadullah Khan told the CM that the Manghopir Road was being constructed by the federal government but due to funding issues, the work has been left incomplete.
He added that due to the stoppage of the work water lines have not been laid. At this, Mayor Karachi said that the project would cost Rs 2 billion and if the amount was given to KMC he would not only lay the water lines but construct the 2 km incomplete road.
The CM directed the secretary finance, secretary local government and Mayor Karachi to sit together to resolve the issue and report to him. The CM on the pointation of the DC Kiamari directed the district administration to construct water tanks for the public until the water supply system was developed.
The CM suspended the services of the Town Municipal Commissioner Baldia Town Imdad Shah for his deliberate absence from the meeting and ordered the transfer of the TMC Mauripur Javed Qamar for his failure to improve the conditions of his area.
The CM directed all the TMCs to visit areas of their town to resolve the public issues. He directed the secretary Local Government to carry out inspections of each and every town.
Baqar directed the cantonment board to work together with KMC and towns and keep their areas neat and clean. The CM ordered the meeting would be held next week so that issues of the rest of the districts of Karachi could be reviewed.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023