The provincial government has given the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) its blessing to execute the cleaning of 41 major drains and 514 smaller drains of the city.
The Sindh High Court was apprised of this development by the Sindh local government secretary on Thursday.
In a written reply to a petition seeking a judicial inquiry into the losses the people of the city suffered during the last year’s monsoon rains and the promised compensation for said losses, the local government secretary said that an amount of Rs250 million had been placed at the disposal of the KMC for cleaning the drains in the city.
He further told the court in his comments that the local government department had informed the provincial cabinet of the critical emergency actions required to mitigate a repetition of last year’s monsoon devastation.
He submitted that the KMC administrator had written a note mentioning that the cleaning work on the drains of Karachi may be started immediately to mitigate possible urban flooding in the city during this year’s monsoon season.
The secretary further said that the local government department would oversee the activities of drain cleaning for which a committee would be constituted and the same would be notified soon.
The court had earlier directed the relief commissioner and the local government secretary to file their comments mentioning viable proposals to combat the situation faced by Karachi every monsoon season.
Nadeem A Sheikh had submitted in his petition that the disastrous spells of rain had left Karachi paralysed and flooded, which was costing Pakistan approximately Rs449 million every day.
He said the city had turned into a disaster zone after rainfall in the last monsoon.
He said that of the 41 people killed during the rains, at least nine were electrocuted due to the messed up power supply lines during one of the heaviest downpours Karachi had witnessed in decades, making life miserable in the megacity of over 20 million people.
The petitioner said the natural storm water drains and the rivers had been encroached upon, which then disturbed settlements and led to flooding during the rains.
He said the lack of any bulk drainage mechanism along the major streets was an obvious cause of the problem, adding that it was ironic that the prime corridors like II Chundrigar Road, Sharea Faisal, Shaheed-e-Millat Road, Karsaz Road, Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan Road, Shahrah-e-Pakistan as well as many other arteries had all turned into pools.
The petitioner said it was necessary for the SHC to order the relevant authorities and departments to initiate a strict inquiry into the matter and submit their reports in court, following which further orders may be issued.
He said the Sindh government was liable to compensate the people affected by the rains. He requested the high court to order the provincial and local governments to compensate the affected people.
