PM concerns over Karachiites sufferings due to rains: Governor Sindh

KARACHI: Governor Sindh Imran Ismail said Prime Minister Imran Khan was extremely worried over the sufferings of people due to rains in port city where lanes, roads, streets and homes had been submerged.

He was addressing the press conference after his meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan held in Islamabad here on Thursday.

Member Sindh Assembly and leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTII) Haleem Adil Sheikh and others were present on the occasion.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had signed the summary and assigned National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Frontier Works Organization (FWO) and Pak Army to resolve the issues of people in the metropolis, he said adding those institutions had started to work out on the planning.

Governor Sindh said there would be short-term, mid-term and long-term plans to resolve the issues in Karachi and added at the initial stage, the standing water from different areas of Karachi would be drained out.

At second stage, the choked sewerage lines would be cleared and sewage, piled at different areas, would properly be disposed of to contain the spread of the diseases, he said.

“We are neither doing politics to win local bodies elections, nor maligning Pakistan People Party (PPP) or any other but the leadership of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTII) seriously took the notice of the issue to resolve it”, he added.

Replying a question, he said all stakeholders including Baldia Sindh Minister and Mayor Karachi would be taken on the board to resolve the standing water issue of Karachi.

Sewerage lanes had been encroached that was too a big issue and would be resolved by relocating the people living there because they were poor; so the government had to give them an alternative to live he said replying to another question.

The Baldia system in port city had completely failed because it could not address the issues emerged after the rainfall, he said.

Opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly Syed Firdous Shamim Naqvi said there were not proper policies to address the rising issues in Karachi.

Karachi Mayor, Wasim Akhtar said the implementation of 140-A would be only a way to resolve the issues of the country's biggest city.