KARACHI:Administrator Karachi, Sindh Government Spokesman and CM Advisor on Law Barrister Murtaza Wahab on Thursday said that the work of cleaning of 41 major drains is in full swing.

“After the completion of the cleaning, the concerned contractors are bound to keep the drains clean and remove the wastewater from the drainage system for the next 90 days,” the Administrator said this while inspecting the cleaning of drains at Burns Road, Sindh Secretariat, Shaheen Complex and PIDC here.

Municipal Commissioner KM Afzal Zaidi, Sindh Solid Waste Management MD Zubair Channa, Senior Director Municipal Services Mazhar Khan, Director Machine Pool Anwar Baloch and other concerned officers also accompanied him.

The Administrator Karachi directed that the monsoon season is about to start in Karachi so cleaning of drains should be completed as soon as possible so that there is no obstruction in drainage of rain water.

“Wherever there are encroachments, they should be removed so that garbage can be removed from drains through manual cleaning,” he said. Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that all local bodies will work under a joint strategy in case of any emergency and will make drainage of rain water possible in all cases.

“Last year, thanks to a better strategy, the citizens suffered less and I expect the same this year too owing to cleaning of drains and clearing of choking points, water will not accumulate on the roads,” he added. He said that it would take some time for drainage after the onset of rains but rain water would not be visible on the roads for many days like in the past.

He directed the Senior Director Municipal Services to check the drains which have been cleared on daily basis and to continue the process of cleaning them on daily basis. The Administrator Karachi also directed to clean the drain passing through Sindh Secretariat manually so that water does not accumulate.

He said that the main reason for non-drainage of water in drains is plastic bags which are present in huge numbers. He said that these plastic bags do not go wrong even after being in the water for months and cause water to stagnate.

The Administrator said that the use of plastic bags has been completely banned from June 15 and citizens are requested to refrain from using plastic bags to help keep the city clean as well as drains. “Paper bags not only melt after falling into drains, but also do not accumulate on the roads and do not cause dirt,” he said while asking the citizens to use plastic bags.