KARACHI: Demanding a judicial inquiry into the funds of the local government, Pak Sarzameen Party chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal said on Tuesday that a few drops of monsoon rain in the provincial metropolis had exposed the performance of the federal, provincial and municipal governments.

Commenting on the city’s situation following Monday’s showers, he said that it appeared that the Sindh and local governments had no plan to deal with the situation after rains.

“The people of Karachi have been suffering from the traditional indifference of the provincial and local governments as just one spell of rain has turned the city into sewage,” he said in a statement.

Mr Kamal, who was a former Karachi mayor, demanded a judicial inquiry into the local government funds and said that the people wanted to know where the public funds worth billions of rupees were spent.

He criticised the much-delayed drain cleaning campaign. “The local government gets Rs500 million annually for cleaning of the [storm-water] drains. With a little honesty, this work could have been completed at a cost of Rs100 million, but instead the drains were left clogged and a mere demand for funds was raised by the mayor,” he said.

As a result of which, he added, after one spell of rain, sewage with rainwater entered houses through roads which were already in a deteriorated condition.

He said that the so-called elected representatives of Karachi were silent over the plight of the city and had been enjoying all perks and privileges in assemblies at the cost of its helpless citizens.

He said the people of Karachi had to face not only prolonged loadshedding and inflated bills every year, but also the loss of human lives due to flawed and inefficient power transmission system of KE during rains.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2020