KARACHI, March 3: The new Sindh government led by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) will accord priority to the problems facing Lyari and other downtrodden areas of the city and will take steps on an emergency basis to solve the various lingering issues in those localities.

These observations were made by MPA-elect Rafiq Engineer, who is also the general-secretary of PPP’s Karachi chapter, while speaking at a gathering of Lyari’s professionals including educationists, doctors and businessmen, here on Monday.

The PPP leader said that he was fully aware of the problems being faced by the area people. He said that the problems included unemployment, poor quality of education and roads, water supply, electricity, defective sewerage system and lawlessness.

The newly-elected legislator said that unemployment followed by the serious law and order situation were the major issues haunting Lyari for quite sometime and needed immediate attention of the relevant authorities.

The PPP leader termed unemployment a major cause of various other social evils like drug addiction etc.

He said that due to the availability of immigrant workforce on comparatively cheaper rates had also affected the labour class residing in Lyari.

The MPA-elect also pointed out that during the last few years, port activities had also slowed down, rendering a large section of labour force unemployed.

Moreover, he said water supply problem in Lyari was much more serious than other parts of the city. “Some areas receive little or no water at all”, he said. The PPP leader said that the water these areas received was often polluted mixed with sewage from defective and leaking sewage lines, making it unfit for consumption.

He also said that due to the growing lawlessness in the area the people felt insecure and there was a need to take drastic measures to check the criminal elements in Lyari.