KARACHI, Dec 3: Taking strong note of halt in the mechanised sweeping drive, City Nazim Mustafa Kamal has ordered a thorough probe against the city government officials who had awarded the contract to a private firm.

Sources in the city government told Dawn that 56 mechanised road sweeping vehicles were imported last year to sweep thoroughfares.

Initially, the night sweeping was carried out by the city government staff but recently the works and services department awarded the contract to a private firm and handed over them the machinery and vehicles.

The sources said the city government gave four million rupees in advance to the contractor for the sweeping work. However, the city nazim received information that the pace of work had been slowed down and roads were not cleaned in many localities for last many weeks.