Daily Times

Pakistan Army and FWO teams reached Gujjar Nullah here on Monday morning to assist the civilian authorities in clearance of the city’s mostly encroached sewerage drains.

The Frontier Works Organization (FWO) personnel have reached Gujjar Nullah with over 50 dumpers, cranes and other machinery to remove garbage, which had chocked free flow of the water in the drain in recent rainfall and submerged adjacent area.

Paramilitary Rangers personnel have also been deployed at the site of the drain clearance work.

The drive has been launched under the oversight of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). The garbage from the sewerage drain being immediately transferred to the landfill site.

The drain clearance work has also been started at ‘Cafe Piala’ in Federal B’ Area of Karachi with heavy machinery and other equipment.

NDMA Chairman Lt. General Muhammad Afzal on Sunday in a media briefing in Islamabad said that NDMA was tasked to clear encroached nullahs in Karachi and asked the federal and the provincial authorities to sit together to resolve the city’s long-standing issues as temporary measures would only subside them rather than solving them permanently.

Muhammad Afzal said that the NDMA has launched the cleanliness drive in the city and would take measures to minimize the effects from rainfall as compared to the past. He said there are chances of another spell of rain in the city from 7 to 9 August.

Addressing a media briefing in Islamabad, he said that six days of August are important for Karachi as there is a prediction of rainfall in the city from 7 to 9 August and then a weak system would remain in the city, which would cause little drizzle from time to time in the metropolis till August 15.

He said that 83 mm rain was recorded in Karachi during one hour in a day previously after which the Prime Minister directed him to reach the city to carry out relief activities.

The water was, however, drained out when I reached Karachi, Muhammad Afzal said.

“Karachi issues could only be solved after realizing the issues faced by the city,” he said and added that 20,000 tonnes of garbage was generated in the city daily but there is no mechanism to dispose it off.

Afzal also said that Karachi’s storm water drains had “too many encroachments” on them. He said that this is compounded by the fact that the sewerage systems are dysfunctional.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had, earlier in the week, directed Pakistan Army and the NDMA to assist the local administration in relieving the city of its urban flooding problem.

The NDMA chief expressed regret over the vast damages caused to the city’s infrastructure by the recent spells of rain.

He said that he held three meetings with Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah and the Corps Commander also held meetings with Shah. Discussions with Governor Sindh Imran Ismail and Mayor Karachi Waseem Akhtar also took place.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Meteorological Department on Monday issued a weather advisory for urban flooding in Karachi and Hyderabad in which it predicted a monsoon spell in Sindh and parts of Balochistan from Thursday (August 6) to Saturday (August 8).

In addition to issuing a warning about urban flooding in Karachi and Hyderabad, the department also warned of flash flooding in the hill torrents of Khuzdar, urging authorities to remain alert during this period.

Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah visited different areas of Karachi to review work on cleaning the city’s storm-water drains and collection of animal waste.

He stated that the provincial government has been regularly releasing funds to clean the city’s drains.

“The nullahs are being cleaned every year, but due to encroachment issues, some portions are always left which causes them to choke during heavy rainfall,” he said.

The chief minister maintained that he would address the city’s drainage and infrastructure issues in consultation with the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and the Karachi Development Authority.