MQM starts cleanliness drive by spraying over own slogans

Party leaders and Rabita Committee members participate in clean-up

KARACHI:

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) kicked off its cleanliness drive in the city on Thursday by removing political and hateful graffiti sprayed on the walls, including those sprayed with party slogans.

As part of the MQM's recently initiated 'Clean Karachi Campaign', the party's mayor-nominee, Wasim Akhtar, spray-painted a wall in Lines Area on which a party slogan was inscribed. "We will also erase wall-chalking and are starting by removing our own slogans," he said.



On Thursday morning, Akhtar swept the road with a broom, drove a mechanised dumper and unloaded garbage onto a truck and erased political graffiti on the walls.

The MQM began drive in all the districts of the city with parliamentarians, Rabita Committee members and workers participating in a bid to clean the city. During the drive, which is set to continue till the mayor and deputy mayor assume office, the party will be seen cleaning the streets every day from 9am till 5pm in different union councils (UCs) of the city.

The drive has been initiated in the wake of a political crisis that the MQM is facing due to estranged and disgruntled leaders leaving the party and forming another group.

No to trash

Amid excited MQM workers wearing fluorescent yellow caps with 'Sheher-e-Quaid ko saaf rakhain [Keep the Quaid's city clean]' inscribed on them, Akhtar kicked off the drive by sweeping litter off the road using a broom near the Ida Rieu School falling in Lines Area.

Thronged by reporters and cameramen, the energetic Akhtar then hurriedly walked to one of the streets, where a park had become a dumping point for garbage. He boarded the dumper along with other party leaders, picked up the trash and dumped it in the truck.

Residents' reaction

The residents were both surprised to see such activity and also doubtful if the campaign will bring about a permanent solution to lack of cleanliness.



"This is eight years of garbage," said Shahnaz, one of the women who came down from their apartments to see what was happening. "For how long will they keep on removing it? Are they celebrating Kachra Day just today?"

Another woman, Hina Abbas, addressed the reporters. "Two days you stay here and you won't be able to live any longer," she said. "There was so much smell here because of the trash." According to her, the leftover garbage, which has accumulated at a park and now covers the streets, is burnt by the residents, which spreads smoke and fumes all around. "There is so much smoke, a person who was suffering from asthma died," she said. Living in the area for the last 13 years, she said that she had paid Rs6,000 to fix the overflowing gutters.

Residents said that they had sent dozens of applications to authorities to clean the garbage in their area but every single one was ignored.

Another resident, Zubair, was of the view that while it seemed like a nice move to remove garbage, it should be done every day.

At loggerheads

MNA Ali Raza Abidi, who held a spade in one hand, said that they had asked the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) for 25 to 30 trucks for the entire city but they didn't provide any. The party was now using vehicles of the respective district municipal corporations. "The vehicles of the KMC that used to come every day [to clean the garbage] haven't arrived today as well," he said.



The vice-chairman of UC-10, Nadeem Khawaja, said that the KMC has a limited number of vehicles and only 12 to 14 sweepers for an area whose population is over 0.1 million.

Akhtar urged the Rangers director-general to help them in their campaign to clean Karachi and said that the KMC's claims that their vehicles had party flags were false. He said it was the 'feudal mindset' that was creating hindrance in their work.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2016.