Judicial commission orders payment of Rs1m to each DMC

Justice (retd) Muslim summons DCs, secretaries for monsoon preparations in city

KARACHI: In the wake of the coming monsoon season, the Supreme Court-mandated Judicial Commission on Water and Sanitation ordered on Friday the authorities concerned to issue an additional amount of Rs1 million to each district municipal corporation in the city.

Machinery and human resources to clean drains should also be increased threefold before the monsoon season, directed Justice (retd) Amir Hani Muslim, the commission's head.

To inquire about monsoon preparations, the commission summoned the municipal commissioner of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), all deputy commissioners (DC), the health secretary, local government secretary and others.



A day earlier, the commission issued bailable warrants of factory owners who did not appear before it. The commission had summoned the factory owners after the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency submitted a report in which it stated that many factories were operating in Karachi without effluent treatment plants and septic tanks.

The warrants were issued for owners of three industries, Sadaf Enterprises, JK and Pak Arab Refinery. Earlier, the commission gave two months to factories to construct septic tanks and three months to establish treatment plants. The commission warned that if the industries failed to comply with the order, they would be sealed.

During Thursday's hearing, Karachi Development Authority Director-General Sami Siddiqui appeared before the commission to inform it about the handing over of Gujjar Nullah and Mehmoodabad drain to the KMC. The commission head had visited the drains on Wednesday where Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar had informed him that despite the commission's orders, the administration of the drains had not been transferred to the KMC.