Karachi: Recent spell of rains once again inundated the megacity Karachi and also washed away the remaining credibility of Sindh government, said Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Vice President and parliamentary party leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh here on Monday.
Talking to media at the media corner of the Sindh Assembly, he said three days ago, the spokesman of Sindh government Murtaza Wahab brought a picture of a donkey drowned in Lahore. He said Murtaza Wahab was devastated due to the death of this donkey, but he did not care about those innocent citizens who drowned into the Karachi Nullahs. He said Lahore went dried up only in five hours, but Karachi is still under the stagnant rainwater despite passing of many days.
Haleem Adil said to bring improvement in Sindh a coordination committee is working and we have agreed upon resolving these issues. However, every political party has also its own stance. He said in Lahore the donkey was drown in rainwater, which was drained out in just five hours, but in Karachi a donkey drowned into a garbage-filled Nullah.
He said previous day, newspapers presented the photos of flooded Nagan Chowrangi, but Murtaza Wahab has yet to hold a press conference on this issue. He wished that the Sindh rulers had shown only half the concern that they had shown for the Lahore donkey about the residents of Nagan Chowrangi, Ahsanabad, Surjani Town, Khuda ki Basti, North Karachi, New Karachi, Gujjar Nullah and FC Area. He said within one hour three citizens drowned in Karachi but no one came to rescue them. He said a Baloch boy drowned at Teen Hatti while trying to salvage his football but no one rescued him.
Haleem Adil said that this development committee has been formed for whole Sindh. He said in this regard the federal government is extending full cooperation to Sindh. For last two years the federal government has been trying to assist Sindh. He said this committee is formed as a follow-up on the order of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He said the Supreme Court has already ordered to clean all Nullahs. He said two days ago a senior minister was holding NDMA responsible for the rain-related devastation of Karachi. He reminded that the Supreme Court has ordered the NDMA to clean only three Nullahs. He asked who would clean the remaining 35 big and 200 small Nullahs.
He said the NDMA had already cleaned the Nullahs but the Sindh government failed to discharge its responsibilities and the cleared Nullah again went filled with uncollected garbage. He said the Sindh government also failed to demolish encroachments over the Nullahs. He said the NDMA officials and Pak Army Jawans are rescuing the stranded citizens from the urban flooded areas and we salute them. He said the assembly members of our party are also helping their voters round o clock on the self-help basis. He said despite prior forecasts about the rains the Sindh government did nothing. He said PMDA, provincial ministers and advisors and district administration officials were seen nowhere during the rains.
Haleem Adil said he is working along with the voters of his consistency PS-99 to assist and help the rain-affected people in different neighborhoods. However, no representative of the provincial government has visited these areas. He warned that more rains are due in the megacity and it is high time that the Sindh government comes out and help the citizens.
He said through the coordination committee we have to provide civic facilities to citizens. We have to resolve water, sewerage, public transport, Nullahs, roads, streets and solid waste management issues of the citizens. He said we are also amongst the rain-affected citizens of Karachi. He said our voters are also in Karachi. He demanded of the Sindh government to take steps for draining out accumulated rainwater.
