KARACHI: Expressing concern over the poor state of sanitation across the city, caretaker Chief Minister retired Justice Maqbool Baqar on Monday directed Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab to launch a massive cleanliness drive in the metropolis.

“I want to see the city clean and shining,” he told the mayor, and he asked him to plant more plants and trees to revitalise the city.

The CM was presiding over a meeting of local government departments, which was attended among others by the mayor, Principal Secretary to CM (PSCM) Hasan Naqvi, local government secretary Manzoor Sheikh, managing director of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB), and project director of the Solid Waste Emergency and Efficiency Project (SWEEP).

Briefing the CM, the LG secretary said that around 1,200 sanitary workers were used to work in defunct district municipal committees in the city, and now they have become completely out of work as the sanitation work has been assigned to the SSWMB.

The CM directed the local government secretary to employ the idle sanitary workers on sanitation work. “How can someone be given a salary for free?” he asked.

Justice Baqar also directed the LG department to renovate or restore all the old buildings in the city. “Give notices to the people who live in old buildings and get these buildings improved and livable,” he ordered.

He asked the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) to issue notices to the residents of old buildings to renovate the buildings.

The SSWMB managing director told the CM that the inspectors of the board inspected the cleanliness in their respective areas. He said that there had been heaps of garbage under the Nipa Bridge that had been cleared.

The CM also directed him to submit an inspection report related to cleanliness to the CM Secretariat.

Inquiries ordered

Meanwhile, the CM ordered two separate inquiries against the Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) and labour department for their failure to act against the non-complaints of the Sindh Workers Welfare Fund (SWWF) and Sindh Workers Participation Fund and the failure of the director general of the labour department to register industrial units, respectively.

“If both the organisations, the SRB and the DG Labour, had taken timely action, the recovery of Rs16.4 billion for workers could have been ensured,” he added.

This he said while presiding over a joint meeting of the SRB, Sindh Employees Social Security Institution (SESSI), and Workers Welfare Board (WWB), which was attended by Law Minister Omar Soomro, Advocate General Hassan Akbar, PSCM Hassan Naqvi, Labour Secretary Shariq Ahmad, SRB Chairman Wasif Memon, Law Secretary Ali Ahmad Baloch, SESSI Commissioner Saleem Khuhro, WWB secretary, and others.

Missing amount updated, says SRB

The SRB chairman told the CM that the missing amount of the fund payers — Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) and the Workers Participation Fund (WPF)- had been updated in the ledger of the Nazir of the Sindh High Court, and now the Nazir ledger reflected that there were 39 cases who had deposited Rs19.29 billion, and now the total amount had come to Rs26.03bn

The CM was told that the 78 non-compliant litigant fund payers had been issued 19 show-cause notices by raising demand of Rs35.97bn in which the provincial component would come to Rs7bn.

The CM, expressing his displeasure, ordered a high-level inquiry against SRB to unearth the motives behind the lethargy. ‘These are the funds meant for workers, but due to vested interest, the industrial units are given favour at the cost of the welfare of the workers, which is not acceptable at any cost,” the CM said.

Labour deparment

The CM was told that there were 127 defaulting units that owed Rs13.4bn in the head of workers’ welfare and participation funds.

In response to a question, the CM was told that these 127 units were unregistered. The CM expressed his disappointment and said, “The DG Labour is responsible for registering the industrial units, but even then, they fail to do so.”

He said and ordered the labour and finance secretaries to conduct an inquiry and fix the responsibility against the delinquent officers.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2023