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Mayor expresses inability to clean storm-water drains before rains

KARACHI: Mayor Wasim Akhtar on Saturday said that the city’s municipal administration was unable to carry out cleanliness of storm-water drains as it did not have sufficient funds for the task.

“The monsoon season is just around the corner, but drains’ cleanliness has not been started as yet,” he said and added that the city could witness a major blow and the provincial government would be responsible if the drains were not cleaned ahead of the wet season.

Speaking at a press conference here, the mayor said that injustice was being meted out to the port city that contributed 95 per cent revenue to the province as no new schemes were given for the city in the next budget.

“Karachi has been deprived of funds for the last 12 years” he lamented and asked who would raise voice for Karachiites, if they [municipal government] gave a walkover to the provincial government.

Asks Sindh govt to release funds so that people of Karachi can be saved from urban flooding

The mayor said that the provincial government had released Rs437 million during administrators’ rule in 2016 through which cleanliness was carried out and after that Rs500m was also released for the same purpose on the directives of a Supreme Court-mandated Water Commission in 2017-18, but total Rs1.272 billion was spent for the drains’ cleanliness. “However, [the remaining] Rs722 million was not paid by the Sindh government to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation,” he added.

He said that drains were not cleaned since 2018 as the KMC didn’t have enough funds for the purpose.

“The KMC cannot carry out cleanliness ahead of the rain spell, that’s why the provincial government is requested to release funds so that the people of Karachi could be saved from urban flooding,” he added.

Mr Akhtar said that the World Bank had to pay $8 million to the KMC for cleanliness but the amount was yet to be given, adding that it might take more time and the Sindh government should follow up.

Replying to a query, the mayor said that the Pakistan Peoples Party had been ruling the province for the past 12 years but the people were not given even a single bus for intra-city travel.

To another question, he said that he could have resigned way earlier if the issues had been resolved just from resigning.

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