Traders on Monday expressed fears that monsoon rains might bring the city's businesses activities to a complete halt because civic agencies have, so far, failed to clean the storm-water system of the metropolis.
Lack of preparedness on the part of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation vis-à-vis cleaning of the city's storm-water system during the monsoon's rains was likely to hit the business activities, they said, adding that even the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) has not yet evolved its strategy for ensuring distribution of clean drinking water during the rainy season when most of the city's roads and streets remain inundated with rainwater.
In recent rainy spells, they said the traders faced financial losses because of the poor drainage system in the city. Mentioning that most the city's major nullahs were either still filled with filth and garbage at many places or their certain portions had been covered by influential people to grab land, they apprehended that in such a situation rainwater would remain stagnant on major roads and streets of the city, creating heavy traffic jams and closure of markets. They demanded of the civic authorities to expedite their efforts to clean the blocked drainage system of the metropolis to ensure smooth flow of rainwater during the rainy season.
Meanwhile, All Karachi Tajir Ittehad (AKTI) had drawn the government's attention towards the city's filthy environment. The AKTI said that since one could see heaps of garbage on a number of roads and streets of the city, one cannot rule out the possibilities that the filthy environment could spread some viral diseases in the epidemic form. "The dirt-plagued markets, roads and streets are likely to leave many businessmen and buyers infected with diseases," they feared. They said the citizens are also facing unhygienic conditions, as the provincial government and civic authorities seemed to have forgotten their basic responsibility of cleaning the metropolis. They demanded of the KMC administration to immediately start fumigation in the city so as to reduce the chances of spreading viral diseases.