KARACHI, July 22: The KMC administrator has said that between 60 and 70 per cent work of cleaning of storm water drains has been completed and the rest will be done by the start of rains.

KMC administrator Mohammad Hussain Syed was speaking to the media on Sunday after a visit to various drains, including PECHS drain, Zeri House drain, Urdu Bazaar drain and the under construction Shahrah-i-Quaideen drain.

He said that because of encroachments of houses, government and private offices, markets, apartments, shopping centres, etc, at these drains the clean-up exercises faced difficulties. He said that the Urdu bazaar drain had been cleaned up after 40 years.

He urged the people not to throw solid waste and garbage in the drains owing to which the drains become chocked and did not allow free flow of water, especially during rains, and as a result the drains overflowed and caused inundation.

He said the city was expected to receive 20 to 25 per cent more rains this year.

He said that a centralised rain emergency camp had been set up under the FTC flyover while a few others had been set up at different parts of the city. He said that an extensive arrangement had been made to carry out a citywide fumigation campaign soon after the rains.