Accountability: Court demands details of funds to clean drains

Despite issuance of funds and passage of 26 months, drains still encroached upon

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed on Wednesday the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's (KMC) administrator to submit details of the funds allocated for the cleaning of the city's water drains.

A division bench, headed by Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, passed this order when the focal persons for all six district municipal corporations (DMCs) failed to provide such details in compliance with the court's earlier directives.

The bench was hearing a petition seeking directions for the KMC authorities to remove illegal encroachments from the storm water drains and clean them ahead of the monsoon season.

A public interest litigant, Rana Faizul Hasan, who had taken the provincial and local authorities to court, had apprehended that the KMC staff had not cleared the drains of illegal encroachments and garbage for a long time. He apprehended that during the monsoon season all the drains could overflow and result in a catastrophe, which the administration was not prepared or capable of dealing with.

At the last hearing, KMC land encroachment department's senior director Muhammad Bilal Manzar had informed the court that the corporation's chief engineer for natural drains had, in compliance with the court's directives, conducted a survey of all such drains across the city and prepared a list of those on which encroachments exist. The list was submitted to the court. These nullahs included Zehri House nullah, Moachko nullah, Gujjar nullah, Orangi nullah, Picture nullah and Kalri nullah.

On his admission, the judges had directed the deputy commissioners of the six districts to submit reports about the funds that had been provided to them to clean these drains.

During Wednesday's proceedings, Hasan told the judges that so far, no progress had been made by the authorities. "Around 26 months have passed since the court first directed the officers concerned to remove the encroachments and clean the drains," the petitioner recalled. "But, nothing had been done till today," he said.

KMC's law officer, Syed Sultan Ahmed, was present, but the focal persons for the East, West, South, Central, Malir and Korangi DMCs were not present, despite the court's clear directives.

This irritated the judges, who took serious note of the officers' conduct towards the compliance of the court's directives.

Expressing their displeasure, the bench ordered the KMC administrator to submit a detailed list about the funds meant for the drains cleanliness that have been provided to each DMC in Karachi. It ordered the KMC chief to provide these details within two weeks and fixed a hearing on November 27.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2015.