KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday sought replies from the chief secretary and the local government secretary of Sindh on a petition pertaining to performance of provincial and city governments during recent rains in Karachi which disturbed city life and devastated civic infrastructure.

A division bench of the SHC, headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, sought replies to the petition on September 9. The petition seeks an inquiry into the losses incurred by the people during the monsoon rains and compensation for the affected people.

The petitioner submitted that the disastrous rain spells had brought life in Karachi to a standstill, and the city was still flooded, costing Pakistan approximately Rs449 million every day.

He submitted that Karachi became a "disaster zone" after two days of rain, and of the total 41 people killed during rains, at least nine people were electrocuted due to faulty power infrastructure in one of the heaviest downpours in decades that had made the lives of more than 20 million people in the megacity miserable.

He submitted that the Sindh government had also announced a monsoon flood emergency, declaring many areas in the province calamity-hit. The petitioner submitted that the monsoon rains did not mean devastation, but the unplanned growth of the city had reduced it to ruins, and large-scale encroachment was the primary reason behind flooding during the rains.

He submitted that drains and rivers had been encroached upon, which had disturbed settlements and led to flooding during rain. During the disastrous rain, various emergency telephone numbers such as the emergency fire number 16, the commissioner's helpline 1299 as well as the Civil Defence phone numbers were found to be off, and no other emergency numbers were available, he added.

The petitioner stated that after using the KE complaint number, only a recording could be heard which said that the skilled staff of KE were trying to rehabilitate the area as soon as possible and added that roads to the cardiovascular hospital, the Jinnah Hospital and the Kidney Centre were submerged under more than four-foot high water, and in this condition it was impossible to take patients to the hospitals.

He added that lack of drainage mechanism along major roads was an obvious cause of the problem, and it was ironic that even prime corridors like the I I Chundrigar Road, the Sharea Faisal, the Shaheed-e-Millat Road, Karsaz, Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan Road, the Shahrah-e-Pakistan and many other arteries had all become pools of water.

He submitted that it was necessary that the High Court passed appropriate orders, asking relevant authorities and departments, including all the respondents, to initiate an inquiry into the matter and submit their report before the court in stipulated time so that the court could pass appropriate orders.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020

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