KARACHI: Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar on Tuesday said that cleaning of rain drains was not a permanent solution as garbage was still being dumped.
"This issue will persist as long as the garbage disposal system is not upgraded," said the Mayor.
He added that only Rs500 million was issued to KMC for the drains' cleaning in the last four years and that too after the Supreme Court orders on our request.
He said details of its expenditures were already given to the Sindh government.
The mayor said that rain drains had not been cleaned since 2018.
The cleaning of rain drains was conducted in 2018 when funds of Rs500 million were issued by the Sindh government on the directives of the Supreme Court.
The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation had submitted an estimate of Rs1.12 billion to the apex court for the same work. The court had asked the provincial government to release the amount but it gave only Rs500 million.
"The tenders were issued, and I overviewed the cleanliness work," he said and added that the Sindh government still owed the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Rs720 million which had been spent on the cleaning of drains.
In a statement issued here, the Mayor said that the National Disaster Management Authority had issued urban flood warning and he held a presser to inform the authorities concerned that the KMC didn't have sufficient funds to carry out the cleaning of the drains.
Akhtar said that he had written many letters to Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, asking for cleaning of the drains, but the provincial government didn't pay any heed to his requests.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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