KARACHI, July 2: A total of 1.25 million cubic feet garbage and sewage has so far been removed during the cleaning of storm water drains, on the directive of City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal.

It is estimated that about 4 million cubic feet more sewage would be pulled from big drains.

This was informed to the acting Managing Director KWSB, Shahid Saleem, during inspection of the ongoing cleanliness work in various areas, said a statement of the KWSB here on Sunday.

During his visit to Saddar area, he was told that due to encroachments immense difficulties were being faced by the relevant staff to clean some sections of the nullahs. Mr Saleem was told that the width of the nullah at Moulvi Tameezuddin Road and Hijrat Colony was decreased due to encroachments and laying of pipes in it; hence the flow of nullah was severely affected.

During the visit to Soldier Bazaar nullah, he was told that major parts of this 26,000-feet nullah were blocked or affected due to encroachments. He was told that four out of five channels of the nullah near the PIDC Bridge were blocked and during the rains, water would overflow and affect the nearby localities.

During inspection of Kalri nullah in Lyari, he was told that Keamari town administration was constructing culverts in Mohammadi Colony, which had closed the nullah causing sewers to overflow in few parts of Lyari and the situation would get even worse during the monsoon rains. The acting KWSB chief was told that some elements of Mohammadi Colony were opposing cleaning of the nullah and in this regard the town administration had been asked to seek help from police.

The acting chief of the KWSB asked all the concerned offi-cials to remove the encroachments with the help of the police and the town administrations.—APP/PPI