PHOTO: EXPRESS
The provincial government has particularly earned the ire of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPAs, who have claimed that though the much touted cleanliness campaign has ended but the streets of Karachi continue to be a quagmire of garbage heaps and filthy sewerage water.
In this connection, PTI MPA Dua Bhutto, on the directives 0f PTI leader Haleem Adil Sheikh, areas falling in the jurisdiction of the metropolis' PS-99 constituency, where she claimed that filth continue to line the unattended streets and sewerage water persists to flood the roads. Talking to the media on Tuesday, during her visit to PS-99 constituency, Bhutto said that PTI has launched a campaign to expose the "utter failure of the Sindh government."
Lambasting the PPP government, talking to the media, PTI's Sheikh said, "Though they [the Sindh government], weren't able to clear the waste from the city, they sure managed to waste the funds."
‘Clean My Karachi’ campaign ends with 979,941 tonnes of garbage collected
According to Bhutto, the provincial government wasted Rs300 million in the name of cleaning the city, during the month-long 'Clean My Karachi' campaign.
Speaking in this regard, Shiekh demanded that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, who had launched the campaign and had claimed to clear the city of garbage in a month's time, identify the areas which have been cleaned. He further said that the provincial government had launched the campaign to in fact clear the garbage which had accumulated due to its own negligence during the last 12 years of its governance.
The PTI MPA claimed that one of the reasons behind the campaign's failure is "corruption carried out by the ministers."
Seconding PTI MPAs' views, Grand Democratic Alliance MPA Nusrat Sehar Abbasi declared the cleanliness drive "ineffective" and said, "The Sindh government had awarded contracts to Chinese companies to lift garbage but its strategy failed. It then launched a campaign to lift garbage from Karachi and failed yet again."
Former deputy mayor of Karachi and Pak Sarzameen Party leader Arshad Vohra too dismissed the 'Clean My Karachi' campaign as futile, opining that the only way to remove garbage from the metropolis is to ensure that cleanliness activities are carried out on a daily basis.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Vohra said that the constitution needs to be amended to empower local government bodies. Authorising local government officials and eliminating corruption is the only way to bring resolve Karachi's garbage problem, he added.
Alternative initiatives
In the aftermath of what PTI leaders have been calling an unsuccessful effort of the Sindh government, they too have announced a cleanliness drive.
Informing the media personnel about the party's initiative, Sheikh said that PTI has launched its own campaign and as a part of it, the party members will identify areas which continue to be buried under heaps garbage in the city. He said that the party members hadn't collected any funds for PTI Federal Minister Ali Zaidi's campaign, 'Let's Clean Karachi', neither for party initiative to launch 'Chamakta Dhamakta Karachi' campaign. "Now launching another cleanliness campaign, we will show how the provincial government has wasted funds," he said.
He also called upon the citizens to raise their voices against the "inefficiency of the Sindh government and expose its failure."
20,306 tonnes of garbage lifted in two days of ‘Clean My Karachi’ drive
Terming the 'Clean My Karachi' campaign "a scheme to misguide the citizens and carry out financial corruption," Bhutto too urged the citizens to participate in PTI's campaign, and make a video of garbage they found to be lying anywhere on the streets.
The campaign
'Clean My Karachi' was launched about a month ago in September, and was monitored by the CM himself. As part of the campaign, funds amounting to Rs50 million were given to each of the deputy commissioners of all six districts of Karachi, to clear the city of garbage within a month.
The government had tasked the deputy commissioners of all districts to spearhead the campaign and around 62 temporary garbage transferring stations were established for garbage dumping.
Tall claims?
Despite opposition's claims and criticism, the Sindh government maintains that 979,941 tonnes of garbage was lifted during the month long drive. This was revealed at a meeting presided over by the Sindh CM to review the progress of the campaign on Sunday.
It was mentioned at the meeting that 82 per cent of the solid waste was collected from the districts where the Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) was not working. The SWMB claimed to have disposed of 154, 437 tonnes of solid waste from three districts since September 21. Along with SWMB's regular activity, the total waste collected was 464,390.21 tonnes.
As of October 20 the estimated amount of solid waste collected at these sites was 370,504 tonnes which included 13,790 from South district, 52,152 from East district, 24,292 from Malir district, 93,630 from Korangi district, 96, 705 from West district and 89,935 Central district.
Out of the 370,504 tonnes of garbage, 295, 563 tonnes have been disposed of at the landfill sites by SWMB. The amount of garbage disposed of lifted from South district is 14,628, from the East district 27, 294 was disposed while 11,005 from Malir district, 64,833 from Korangi, 95,126 from West and 82,677 from Central district.
However, despite tall claims by the government and local government bodies, of lifting tonnes of garbage from the city, citizens have expressed dissatisfaction over the cleanliness drive's results. They have demanded that the government introduces a robust policy for cleaning the metropolis and carry out cleanliness activities on a daily basis.
Citizens say that government needs to introduce a solid policy for picking the garbage because thousands of tonnes of garbage is collected in the city on daily basis.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2019.
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