KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah Thursday directed the provincial local government department to prepare a plan to overhaul and reconstruct all the distributaries of three major stormwater drains of Gujjar, Orangi and Mahmoodabad in the long-term but in short-terms, a proper cleaning of the distributaries should be started before the forthcoming monsoon season.
This he said while presiding over a meeting of Provincial Coordination and Implementation Committee (PCIC) here at the CM House. The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, Saeed Ghani, Nasir Shah, Murtaza Wahab, Corps Commander Karachi Lt General Nadeem Anjum, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Chairman P and D M. Waseem, GOC Karachi Maj Gen M Aqeel, Commissioner Karachi Naveed Shaikh, Secretary Local Government Najam Shah, Administrator Karachi Laiq Ahmed, VC NED Dr Sarosh Lodhi, Brig Waqar Abbasi and other of FWO, DG PDMA Salman Shah and Chairman NDMA and Adl Secretary Ministry of Planning Aziz Uqaili joined the meeting from Islamabad through video link.
The chief minister decided to widen the existing Gujjar and Orangi stormwater drains from 35 to 80 feet and 20 to 40 feet respectively. The dredging of these drains’ beds to accommodate the anticipated discharge/flow would be undertaken. Sewer trunks would be laid along the drains just to separate sewage and stormwater.
The meeting decided that the design discharge of Gujar stormwater drain would be 12,500 cusecs and it would have rainfall intensity of 11 inches within 12 hours. The rainfall intensity of Orangi stormwater drain would be the same while its design discharge capacity had been kept at 8,828 cusecs. At the outset of the meeting, the removal of encroachments from three major drains, Mahmoodabad, Gujjar and Orangi, were reviewed.
Mahmoodabad Stormwater Drain: The meeting was told that encroachments from Mahmoodabad drain had been cleared. All the 238 units constructed along both sides of the drain have been removed and compensation cheques to the affected people have also been handed over.
Gujjar Stormwater Drain: There are 3,957 structures spreading over 12.6 kilometers established along both sides of the Gujjar drain. Out of 12.85 kms, 9.5 km have been cleared on the left bank and 3.35 km are yet to be cleared. Similarly, out of 12.5 km, 8.85 km has been cleared. The remaining 3.65 km would be cleared after Eid.
As far as compensation cheques are concerned, the meeting was told that out of 3587 cheques, 2190 have been distributed among the affected families.
Orangi Stormwater Drain: The drain in District Central has encroachments of about 4.75 km along its embankments, of them 1.5 km has been cleared and the remaining would be removed within 15 days after Eid holidays.
In district West, it has 1013 structures established over an area of six kilometers, of them 860 have been cleared. Some of the units have got stay orders from the courts, therefore work on them has been stopped. Removal 153 units was in progress. In Keamari district, there were 244 structures built over an area of 5.2 km, of them 226 have been cleared.
The commissioner Karachi Naveed Shaikh told the meeting that 72 percent work on clearance of Gujjar and Orangi drains has been completed. It was pointed out that the removal of encroachments from the drains have started litigation. Most of the encroachers have got stays orders and this may hamper the process of overhauling of the major nullas. At this, the chief minister directed his legal team to pursue the cases in the courts properly so that stays could be vacated to start the work.
Monsoon preparation: The commissioner Karachi told the chief minister that there were 128 choking points. He added that they had 95 dewatering pumps, of them 64 were functional and 31 were being repaired. The chief minister was told that 74 more pumps were required for which Rs19.63 million were required. The chief minister directed local government minister Nasir Shah to put the proposal.
Nasir Shah told the chief minister that there are 298 drains in seven districts (DMCs) of Karachi and their cleanliness would start from May 17 that would cost Rs316 million, of which the DMCs would utilize Rs119 million from their own resources and the remaining amount of Rs 197 would be required from the provincial government. The chief minister directed the minister to submit a summary for funds and start the work.