ISLAMABAD, Aug 18: Legislators from Karachi on Friday expressed concern over the high number of deaths occurring because of Thursday’s rains in the Sindh metropolis and called for an inquiry into the city government affairs for “its failure to cope with the situation”.

Speaking on points of order, MNAs of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) blamed the Karachi city government for the poor sanitation in the city after the heavy downpour.

There was a pandemonium in the house after the members of the MMA and the MQM held each other responsible for the city’s present state of affairs.

Nabil Gabol of the PPP and MMA’s Mohammad Laeeque Khan and Asadullah Bhutto agreed that the city government had dug up all the important roads in Karachi to build underpasses because of which accumulating rain water had inundated large areas in the city as no arrangements had been made for its drainage. They said that the situation in Karachi could negatively affect the whole country.

Expressing solidarity with people who lost their lives, Laeeque Khan said that at least 25 people had been killed in rain-related incidents in Karachi. Highlighting the sufferings of the people of the city at the hands of the city government, he urged the centre to seek the help of army and other federal institutions to provide them relief.

Mr Gabol said that he had already submitted an adjournment motion calling for a debate on the issue. Emphasising on the matter’s national importance, he urged the speaker to urgently take up the matter.

Another PPP legislator, Ghulam Ali Nizamani, said that SIndh’s farming sector had been ruined by rain, particularly in Sanghar.

He said in the past, the PPP government had waived agricultural loans after heavy rains in Sindh.

He called upon the government to at least waive the interest on loans to provide some relief to the farmers.

In response to the opposition’s criticism, Federal Minister for Housing and Works Safwanullah said that rain was a natural phenomena and no one any power over it. The minister questioned the preparations of the previous city government headed by Jamaat-i-Islami Nazim Naimatullah and said that it had not made any arrangements for drainage of rain water during its four-year tenure.

This caused a rumpus in the house with MMA shouting at the minister of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in unison. However, the speaker disallowed further debate on the issue.