KHAIRPUR: Massive piles of trash plague neighbourhoods across Khairpur due to poor performance of Khairpur Municipal Committee. Reportedly, the residents of 80 neighbourhoods have been facing immense difficulty. It seems like a mere formality when the sanitation employees visit after residents’ complaints increase. Most streets are in a dilapidated condition while overflown sewage water is everywhere because of poor sewage network, causing serious public health threats. Farhan Mahar, a social worker, said that he lodged a series of complaints to the North Sindh Urban Services Corporation (NSUSC) and the Khairpur Municipal Committee, on behalf of the irked residents, but to no avail. “They did not send any sanitary staff to clean the piles of trash and fix broken sewers. The transmission of bacterial and viral diseases has escalated while the ‘irresponsible’ and ‘careless’ authorities do not respond to the situation” he remarked. He alleged that the sanitary workers have been working at the houses of politicians and influential officers. “Often, the Municipal Committee Chairman has been absent from his office and that leaves us with a big question that who will resolve public issues,” he maintained while adding that amid a broad crackdown by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Anti-Corruption teams, the officers are afraid to even come to their offices. Boy drowns in canal A six-year-old boy drowned on Saturday in the Lalan Minor canal near Pir Jo Goth, a city situated in the Kingri Taluka of Khairpur District in the Sindh Province. Reportedly, Bilawal Sheikh was playing outside his house when he suddenly slipped and fell in the canal. Later, his body was recovered from the canal and raid to rest after conducting medico-legal formality at Pir Jo Goth Hospital. Published in Daily Times, May 27th 2018.