KARACHI: The Clean Karachi campaign led by Federal Minister Ali Zaidi in fact is not to clean the city, but it appears to be an attempt to make the metropolis dirtier as during the ongoing drive, the garbage and filth taken out from storm-water drains and other places is being thrown at open places, parks and main arteries.

This policy of Clean Karachi had made the life of the common man miserable, said Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani while talking to reporters on the premises of Sindh Assembly building here on Monday.

Answering questions, Mr Ghani said that since the campaign was launched by the federal minister, not a single truck was sent to the landfill sites. This is despite the fact that one day before launching the campaign, he had told the federal minister, in the capacity of then local bodies minister, that they should dump the waste at the landfill sites, he said.

He also had duly informed the managing director and other officers concerned of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) about the activity, but so far no truck had taken garbage to the site.

He said he had requested the federal minister if he (Ali Zaidi) was not able to take removed filth and waste from the city to the landfill sites, the drive should be immediately stopped.

In reply to another question, the minister said the Sindh government had never allowed Ali Zaidi to utilise garbage transfer centres or open spaces for dumping of the waste of storm-water drains.

Mr Ghani said the Sindh government was quite competent to solve the problems being faced by people, but the services were affected when the provincial government was paid Rs125 billion less than the promised amount from the federal share. It was due to incompetence and inefficiency of the federal government in collection of its targeted revenue that the Sindh government could not implement its many public-oriented welfare projects, Mr Ghani claimed.

However, if compared to other provinces after the rains, the state of affairs in Sindh was far better, he added.

In reply to another question about dewatering of the rainwater standing in Thatta and other parts of Sindh, he said that after the recent monsoon rains, government activities were affected due to high tide in different areas. However all resources were being utilised to improve the situation, he said. “We don’t have a magic wand to dewater the area.”

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2019