KARACHI: City Mayor Wasim Akhtar said on Thursday that the infrastructure of Karachi had collapsed completely and such a situation could have been avoided had the city been given its rights and resources.

“Those who were occupying the civic bodies and their resources are responsible for this situation” he said adding that the chief executives of the province and country should take serious notice of this condition as this loss was not only of Karachi but of the province and country as well.

The mayor expressed these views while talking to media representatives during the inspection of road carpeting work in Parsi Colony of Soldier Bazaar.

Mr Akhtar said that rehabilitation and carpeting work on routes of the Rabiul Awwal processions was being carried out.

The mayor said that Karachi was not getting the funds it needed, which was affecting uplift schemes in the city.

He said the water supply, sewerage and transport system in the city was in very bad condition.

Going to court

On Wednesday the mayor had said that the municipal administration of the city would soon move court against “continued injustices” being meted out to Karachi.

He said that his party, the Muttahida Qaumi Move­ment, had already filed a constitutional petition in the Supreme Court against the controversial Sindh Local Government Act that had stripped the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation of several functions.

The mayor expressed these views while talking to journalists during inspection of an under-construction road in Block 13-D of Gulshan-i-Iqbal.

He said no decision regarding the privatisation of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board had surfaced as yet. “We will respond accordingly if such a decision is taken,” he added.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2019