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Karachi, July 28, 2020 (PPI-OT): Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, keeping in view heavy and excessive downpour, on Tuesday decided to monitor the city of Karachi through 28 sub-divisional committees comprising elected representatives, including ministers, advisors and special assistants for timely and properly disposal of the rain water.
“I need a solid mechanism for saving low-lying areas where rainwater has flooded the houses,” he said while presiding over a meeting to review monsoon situation and cleanliness of storm water drains. The meeting was attended by provincial minister Saeed Ghani, Syed Nasir Shah, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Special Assistants to CM Waqar Mehdi, Rashid Rabbani, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro, ACS Home Usman Chachar, Commissioner Karachi Iftikhar Shahalwani, Secretary Finance Hassan Naqvi, MD Sindh Solid Waste Management Kashif Gulzar, PD SWEEP Zubair Channa, MD Water Board Khalid Shaikh, Masood Alam of KMC and others.
The chief minister said that the local bodies should have an emergency plan to deal with the heavy rain situation in the city. “The irrigation department maintains a mile-wise protection plan of embankments of their canals under which they mark vulnerable and weak points and take prompt action in case of riverine floods,” he said and added “the local bodies should have a similar plan under which low-lying areas, choking points, bottlenecks, culverts of nalas and their catchment areas should have been identified on a map so that deployment of concerned staff and necessary machinery could be installed in case of heavy downpour.
Mr Shah said that only cleaning of nala was not enough but a detailed plan must be prepared through a proper and professional survey. “Our natural water ways have either been encroached or turned into housing societies, therefore rain water could not flow away in gravity,” he said. Mr Shah directed the Minister Local Government to remove encroachments from the storm water drains and continue their cleaning under World Bank projects and with local funding of the government.
Minister Local Government Nasir Shah told the chief minister that from July 26 when the rain had started him along with the water board, local government, DMCs senior officers had been on the roads. “The rain water where accumulated was pumped out through machinery and clearance of choking points that is why all the major roads have been cleared,” he said.
The chief minister said that in low-lying areas rain water flooded various houses. “I want a plan under which these houses could be protected,” he said and added that the small drains crossing from such residential localities must be maintained properly. Shah decided to look after the city of Karachi on sub-division level where elected representatives would be assigned the duty to ensure proper discharge of the accumulated rain water. It may be noted that there are 28 sub-divisions in Karachi division and every sub-division is headed by an assistant commissioner.
The local government minister, on the directives of the chief minister, chaired a joint meeting of water board, DMCs, KMC and SSWMA officers to identify choking points on the main roads, residential and commercial areas for necessary action so that further action could be taken accordingly.
For more information, contact:
Press Secretary,
Chief Minister House, Sindh
Tel: +92-21-99202019(Ext: 336)
Website: www.cmsindh.gov.pk