KARACHI, July 28: City Nazim Naimatullah Khan, in an unexpected move, visited Lyari Town on Sunday night where intermittent rain had played havoc.

The Nazim visited Mauripur Road and Bihar Colony and some other parts of the affected areas where roads had been damaged and streets had been inundated.

The choked up gutter lines had further aggravated the situation in the areas.

Talking to Dawn, Naib Nazim Lyari Town Malik Mohammad Awan confirmed that the City Nazim visited the town on Sunday night at 10.30pm in order to have a look at the rain-hit areas.

In the follow-up to the Nazim’s visit, Mr Malik said the District Coordination Officer Mir Mohammad Husain also paid a visit to the town.

He said the city government had ordered immediate cleaning of Kalri Nullah, particularly the Mohammad Ali colony section where garbage had been dumped.

Being close to the Karachi fish harbour, the Kalri drain had become miserable.

The Water and Sewerage Department could not clean the major drain despite the fact that the residents had repeatedly warned of the disastrous situation.

The Naib Nazim of Lyari town said the city government had taken serious note of the situation and ordered all agencies concerned and officials to make efforts to drain out stagnant water.

Elsewhere in the city, the storm water drainage system had collapsed as well.

Residents of the area and the NGO activists said that there was no emergency plan to meet any kind of problem related to monsoon rains.

As per past practice, hardly two months prior to the monsoon season, sanitary staff was seen engaged in partial cleaning of a few drains, they said.

They argued that the reason for the failure of natural

nullahs and rivers were manifold, saying they were not properly maintained and many of them had been encroached upon.

It was observed that over the years many multi-storey buildings had been built over storm water drains, making their cleaning a near-impossibility, they added.

The residents argued open drains were mostly being misused as dustbins for

garbage and for disposing solid waste.