Voicing concern over sanitation problems in various parts of the city during Eidul Azha, Ali Khursheedi, the leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly and senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader, blamed Karachi’s sanitation crisis on what he called incompetence shown by the city mayor, Barrister Murtaza Wahab.
Speaking at a press conference at the MQM-P’s Bahadurabad headquarters, Khursheedi alleged that the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) had utterly failed to meet its contractual responsibility of door-to-door collection and proper disposal of animal offal during the Eid holidays.
The Sindh Assembly opposition leader was accompanied by other MQM-P MPAs during the press conference. He stated that although the waste management board had claimed establishment of 96 animal waste collection points across the city, the plan did not work resulting in dire conditions in many localities.
Khursheedi stated that many areas such as the Sakhi Hassan graveyard in District Central, Orangi Town, Baldia Town, Nazimabad, Landhi, Korangi, Malir and Shah Faisal Colony were severely affected by a ‘flawed and corrupt’ system for handling animal waste.
“The Mayor should step out of his comfort zone and visit residential neighbourhoods rather than confining himself to the city’s main roads. Citizens of Karachi deserve clean surroundings, particularly during religious festivities like Eid,” he remarked.
He also urged Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to take notice of the alleged mismanagement and gross incompetence of the mayor, even if he was engaged in diplomatic commitments overseas.
Khursheedi also criticised the city administration’s failure to tackle the growing water shortage, forcing residents to rely on costly private water tankers. He alleged widespread corruption in the water supply system, involving kickbacks and pilferage.
“Every concerned citizen in Karachi is aware of those benefitting from water theft, yet the Sindh chief minister and home minister have turned a blind eye to these grave issues,” he claimed.
The opposition leader added that although over Rs 220 million had been collected from Karachi’s residents through municipal utility charges and taxes, the mayor had not delivered commensurate development or services.
“Karachi’s mayor must be held accountable. If he continues to ignore these mounting problems, the peoplethemselves will hold him responsible for his inaction and inefficiency,” Khursheedi warned.
Separately, Karachi Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Munem Zafar Khan also expressed concerns over the ongoing crises in the city and said that the people of Karachi continued to face lack of water, electricity and cleanliness even during the occasion of Eidul Azha.
Talking to the media while visiting sacrificial camps in various areas of the city during the Eid days, he said the K-Electric (KE) did not spare the Karachiites even during the Eid. He added that the Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) was following the footprints of the KE.
Criticising Wahab, he said the self-imposed mayor of the city was also the chairman of the water corporation and it was his obligation to ensure smooth supply of water, electricity and collection of offal from the roads but he failed to discharge this duty.
He said that earlier it was being expected that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and SSWMB would coordinate with towns in order to ensure smooth sailing of operations but they both failed in this regard.
He highlighted that the JI ensured an exemplary system in the nine towns run by it. He added that this year, over 200 spots were established for collective sacrifice of animals in order to facilitate masses.
Govt’s version
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Sindh government, Sadia Javed, praised the performance of the SSWMB during the Eid and said the lack of a functional municipal system in the largest province of Pakistan, Punjab, was an injustice to its residents.
In a statement issued on Monday, she said the Punjab chief minister had been left with no option but to widely advertise her services because of a lack of the local government machinery in her province.
The spokesperson said the Punjab CM had to take action on the ground to oversee sanitation and sewage disposal affairs in the cities because of the non-functional system of municipal governance in the province.
She claimed that elected representatives of the people leading the Sindh’s municipal system had delivered very well in their respective jurisdictions on this Eidul Azha. She further claimed that the mayors of Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur, and Larkana ensured exemplary sanitation arrangements in their respective jurisdiction on Eidul Azha.
She said the staff of the SSWMB were the real heroes of the Eid who ensured cleanliness in major urban centres of the province on the occasion. She claimed that the elected representatives of the people heading Sindh’s municipal agencies had worked hard after powers had been devolved to the local governments in the province. She urged the Punjab government to immediately hold local government polls in the province.
