Daily Times

KARACHI: Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nasir expressed his anger on Saturday over heaps of garbage and unhygienic situation in Karachi and ordered that the metropolis must be cleaned within a week.

A three-member apex court bench, headed by the CJP, was hearing a case on the report of Sindh’s Supply and Drainage Commission at the Supreme Court Karachi’s Registry.

During the proceedings, CJP remarked, “I don’t know how, but clean the city. I don’t want to see trash on streets of Karachi anymore.”

Heaps of garbage have clogged drains while trash piles are seen everywhere, he remarked, questioning whose job it was to clean the city. He said that it was the job of Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar to keep the city clean.

“Who was responsible for cleaning the city?” the CJP questioned the mayor. To this, the mayor replied that those powers reside with the Sindh government.

Sindh Chief Secretary Rizwan Memon accepted before the court that about 4.6 tonnes of garbage was not being picked up in the city, adding that some roads in the city had not been cleaned for the last six months.

On this, the CJP remarked that Waseem Akhtar was right: this is the job of district municipal corporations (DMCs), which are subordinate to the Sindh government.

The chief secretary told the court that the work was underway to pick up litter and a computerised system had been made and improved to monitor this.

The CJP remarked that if the system had improved then why wasn’t work being done? “We have accepted the situation but change is coming,” replied the chief secretary.

The CJP said his remarks that awareness should be created among the people of Karachi to dispose of garbage properly.

The city mayor said that cleaning trash from the city would take at least 10 years, adding that there is a lot of trash in all districts of Karachi. “The city has been destroyed; the Sindh government keeps all revenue collection with itself.”

The CJP pointed out that Akhtar was voted in by the people of the city. “Leave the government and serve people,” he remarked, advising the mayor to collect funds, if he must, to clean the city.

Published in Daily Times, March 18^th 2018.