KARACHI: Week-long cleanliness drive in Landhi ends
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, July 22: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s week-long cleanliness drive in Landhi area concluded on Tuesday.
Briefing newsmen after a visit to the area, the MQM’s MNA from the same constituency, Dr Farooq Sattar said that 528 garbage dumps weighing 10,560 tons were cleared together with 37 drains.
During the “successful” cleanliness drive, 38 sewerage lines were cleared while many others were repaired during the campaign in which over 2,000 activists, including ministers and other office bearers of the party participated.
Dr Sattar regretted that city government did not cooperate in the week-long drive, rather he alleged that its attitude was negative.
He said that if the city government would have cooperated in the drive, it could have helped in removing the misunderstandings that exist between the city and provincial governments. However, he appreciated the support provided by the federal and provincial government institutions in the cleanliness drive.
He said the provincial government, in a short span of time had initiated and completed many projects for the welfare of the people, which included girls college in Landhi and medical complex, water and road projects. He asked the city government as to what had it done for the welfare of the residents.
He said that the people of Landhi had overcome the element of fear which had dominated their mindset during the past decade and now the area people were willingly to participate in the sustainable democratic process.
He said that efforts were being made to reactivate the institutions, which had become dormant owing to, what he called, the enslavement of the locality at gun point by the activists of the rival faction who had the backing of certain government agencies.
More than 3,000 saplings were planted in the area during the drive. Dr Sattar also planted a tree in the park of Bait-ul-Hamza.
In order to sabotage the MQM cleanliness drive, Dr Sattar alleged that town nazim had locked the workshop, where vehicles used in cleanliness drive, were parked and had sent the sanitary staff on a one-week leave. Owing to such “anti-people” attitude, regular sanitation was also affected, he alleged.
He said that provision of basic amenities to the citizen was the responsibility of the city government, but instead of fulfilling that, the city government preferred to sabotage cleanliness drive which was aimed at removing the filth that had accumulated over the past 11 years.
He alleged that by behaving negatively, town nazim had exposed himself.
