Karachi mayor says all roads cleared of water as rain death toll reaches three

KARACHI:

Mayor Karachi Murtaza Wahab said on Monday that all main roads of the city were clear of rainwater, as the death toll from the downpour reached three.

According to Express News, 50-year-old Shaukat Nagori drowned after falling into a drain in the Baloch Colony area, following Saturday's heavy rain. The deceased's body was recovered earlier today, two days after the calamity.

A homoeopath doctor by profession, Shaukat has left behind a young daughter along with a speech and hearing-impaired widow.

His body was recovered from a stormwater drain near Sharea Faisal, within the locality of the Tipu Sultan Police Station. According to Superintendent Police (SP) Jamshed Quarter Alina Rajpar, the deceased was a resident of Shah Latif Town.

'Local govt at work'

Addressing a presser today, Wahab said that water had cleared from the roads due to the efforts of local government departments. He acknowledged that rainwater was still standing in streets in different areas, adding that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has been directed to facilitate in clearing the affected areas.

Irked over rival political leaders' criticism of him, the PPP Karachi leader said that the city was "different for [JI chief] Naeem-ur-Rehman and [MQM-P chief] Mustafa Kamal". "There are difficulties and problems, but we are working," the mayor maintained.

He added that the MA Jinnah and II Chundrigar roads were in bad condition, but they were clear today.

Further making political statements, the city mayor claimed that his officials were on the streets, but the town chairmen of Jamaat-e-Islami were nowhere to be seen. “It is easy to sit in rooms and criticize… we were working on the streets,” he added.

Read Karachi grapples with rain havoc

“I have now been issued a notice by the DMO, that I had no idea about,” Murtaza said. “Have also been fined Rs50,000,” he maintained, adding that “I do not know what the problem is with me”.

Referring to canvassing for his party for the upcoming elections as an elected office bearer, he said that he had never violated his code of conduct, and neither will he ever do so. “Tell me about a single election campaign that the mayor Karachi participated in,” Murtaza said about himself.

'Want votes? Take it from my friend lying in his grave'

A friend of the deceased Shaukat Nagori, Faisal, while talking to media outside the Jinnah Hospital mortuary, said that the deceased was his childhood friend and they used to work together.

“I used to drop Shaukat off at Sharea Faisal, from where he would head home on a bus,” he said, adding that on Saturday he refused to go along with him to his house saying he would head directly home.

"My friend's phone had been coming off since yesterday. Heard of his death today in the morning," Faisal said.

Upset over his friend's tragic demise, Fasisal highlighted the negligence of municipal authorities, saying that "the ones who come and ask for votes, must not be voted". "If they a desire vote, they must visit the graveyard and ask Shaukat for his vote,” he added.

Rain-related tragedies have become routine in Karachi even after a couple of hours of rain.

Following Shaukat's death, the number of people who fell victim to rain-related incidents reached three.

On Sunday, bodies of 45-year-old Syed Muhammad Fakhr-e-Alam and 35-year-old Bashir Khan were recovered from drains in Baldia Town and Degree College in Mangophir.

Fakhr, a father of five and a worker in a dyeing factory had left for work on Sunday but never returned home. He fell into a drain during the stormy rain. Bashir Khan, a scrap dealer, also fell victim to a deep water-filled pit.