Daily Times

KARACHI: As the monsoon rains hit Karachi on Monday, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail took to Twitter to share a “real story” about cleaning of Karachi’s storm water drains.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail said the federal government has funded the drive to clean all three major nullahs, including Mehmoodabad, Gujjar and Orangi Nullahs.

“Fed[eral] Gov[ernment] released Rs.35 billion to NDMA [National Disaster Management Authority] to get khi transformation plan started. I repeat 35 billion,” he added.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail said the federal government has already released funds for payment of Rs15,000 per month rent to the affectees of the anti-encroachment drive along these drains for one year. The Sindh government and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) are responsible to make payments in time, but despite timely release of the funds, some families have not been paid rent on pretext or the other, he lamented.

“Sufficient funds have been paid by Fed Gov/ NDMA to GoS/ KMC 4 removal of encroachments. However, removal is very slow resultantly in such areas and difficulty is being faced in accessing & cleaning of Nullahs,” he pointed out, asking the provincial government to ensure removal of encroachments without further delay.

While the federal government and NDMA are cleaning and revamping the three storm water drains, the Sindh government took responsibility to clean remaining 41 KMC and 510 DMC nullahs, the Sindh governor said.

Sindh Governor said these KMC and DMC drains are awaiting cleaning. “Effort for cleaning of Nullahs is going to fail unless GoS finds a solution to solid waste,” he stressed.