-Asad says removal of encroachments to be started soon
-Confirms Center & Sindh govts effort to resolve long-standing issues
-Vows to resolve water shortage, sewerage, transport and solid waste issues
From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar has said that an operation will be launched from Monday to remove encroachments on major drains of the city.
Addressing a gathering the federal minister said that the government will resolve the problem of major nullahs of Karachi and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will work over the problem.
The federal government and Sindh government will work jointly over the problems faced by the people of Karachi. He said sewerage, transport, water shortage and solid waste management issues will be resolved in coordination with the provincial government. Asad Umar said that a budget of billions of rupees will be allocated for the cleaning of Karachi.
Moreover, Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar has said that the federal government is committed to resolving the issues being faced by the people of Karachi. Speaking at a ceremony in Karachi, he said that water shortage, sewerage, transport, and solid waste management issues will be resolved through coordinated efforts with the provincial government.
Earlier, a meeting of the Sindh-Centre committee on Saturday decided to remove encroachments from stormwater drains in Karachi from Monday and to expedite work on federal developmental projects in other parts of the province. The newly-formed committee also reviewed the developmental issues in Karachi, and the rest of the province, and discussed the issues related to the ongoing work to clean the city’s stormwater drains.
The committee made a bold decision to remove encroachments from the stormwater drains of the city. Provincial minister Nasir Hussain Shah told the meeting that work to remove encroachments from drains where people were not living would start from Monday.
Shah clarified that in the case of residential encroachments, residents will be first provided with alternate accommodations before the anti-encroachment operation would be launched.
The provincial ministers also raised the issue of the slow pace of work to construct the Jamshoro- Sehwan section of the Indus Highway despite the payment of Rs7 billion by the provincial government as its share to develop the highway.
The meeting decided to expedite the pace of work on the under-construction portion of Indus Highway. Shah informed the meeting about the lining of the KB Feeder Canal in District Thatta, which would save water from being lost. Asad and Ali Zaidi also met a delegation of PTI MNAs and MPAs elected from Karachi and briefed them about the committee meeting. The delegation comprised Leader of Opposition in Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Parliamentary Leader Haleem Adil Sheikh, Khurram Sherzaman, Aftab Siddiqui, Jamal Siddiqui, Sidra Imran, and others.
The planning minister said that the committee’s goal was to work for Karachi and its citizens. He added that Karachi was facing many problems and the federal government was taking serious steps to resolve them.
The federal minister added that the projects finalised in the Centre-Sindh government coordination committee were also discussed in the meeting. “The committee would work on six main sectors of transport, water, sewerage, solid waste, storm drains, road construction on a priority basis,” he said, adding that the federal and provincial secretaries of the planning and development department will supervise those projects. “Everyone will work together for the development of Karachi because the development of Pakistan is critically linked to the development of the city,” Asad remarked.
Zaidi claimed that virtually every issue of Karachi was politicised and “no one ever seriously addressed the problems due to which the country’s economic hub is mired in problems.”
“Prime Minister Imran Khan is paying special attention to Karachi and we are trying to solve the problems of the city in accordance with his directives. The citizens of Karachi have given their mandate to PTI which is the stakeholder of the city,” he said.
