The Sindh government’s claim of draining the rainwater was questioned and came under debate in the Sindh Assembly on Thursday when the joint opposition termed it false claims and drew the attention of the House towards many areas which were still flooded in Karachi and other districts of the province.
As the session started with Deputy Speaker Rehana Leghari in the chair the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) MPA Arif Mustafa Jatoi and PTI’s Khurrum Sher Zaman raised this issue expressing concerns on the performance of the Sindh government and its administration, which they claimed, has failed to drain out stagnant water from the urban and rural areas.
“Sindh has suffered losses worth billions of rupees as torrential rains damaged houses and standing crops. Most parts of the province are still flooded with knee-deep stagnant water. What actions the government has taken?” said Jatoi while moving the call attention notice said.
Referring to the pathetic condition in Matirai, Morro and Padidan towns, Jatoi claimed that these towns are still submerged with one-and-a-half feet rainwater which may lead to outbreak of different diseases.
Minister for Excise Taxation Mukesh Kumar Chawala refuting the opposition member’s claims about failure of government to deal with the situation, said that the rains caused some minor damages in some parts of the province where PPP ministers and MPAs along with the government officials have been working round-the-clock to carry out relief operation.
“Madam speaker, we are committed to extend our services to provide relief to the people,” he said adding that after the rains, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and his cabinet members were on Karachi’s roads supervising the de-watering work and cleared Sharea Faisal and other main roads and underpasses restoring the traffic flow.
“I just want to know about the performance of PTI MPAs who have been elected from Defence Housing Authority and Clifton areas. People of the area are calling us to help as the elected lawmakers have disappeared from the constituency,” he said.
Criticisng the PTI lawmakers, the minister said, “It is on record that they made the selfies in the rain and disappeared.”
The same issue was raised by PTI MPA Khurrum Sher Zaman. He asked for the reason of failure of local government department in draining the stagnant water. He said, ‘’Even after three days, the downtown areas of the city including Saddar are still inundated. The minister just took selfies on the main roads and went away. What about the low lying areas of the city where people cannot come out of their homes,” he lamented.
PTI MPA Ghulam Riaz Hyder Bhatti also took up the issue of his constituency PS130 North Nazimabad and said, “the infrastructure in the area was already in a dilapidated condition with broken roads and heaps of garbage, while recent rains have added to the miseries of the people.”
The remains of sacrificial animals rotting in rainwater mixed with the sewage have caused foul smell to hang in the area, making it hard to breath. The situation could lead to outbreak of epidemics and skin diseases, he said.
After the agenda, the deputy speaker adjourned the session for Friday.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 29th, 2022.
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