Mayor Karachi Barrister Murtaza Wahab on Tuesday said that the rescue operation in the Gul Plaza tragedy has been completed and the affected building has been sealed.
He expressed these views while addressing a press conference on Tuesday at the head office of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation located on Shahrah-e-Faisal, Karsaz.
On the directives of the Chief Minister Sindh, an inquiry committee was formed under the chairmanship of the Commissioner Karachi, while an FIR regarding the incident has also been registered. He stated that the investigation report would be made public soon.
Expressing deep sorrow and grief over the Gul Plaza tragedy, the mayor said that they equally share the pain of the affected families. He added that lessons would be learned from this incident and effective measures would be taken to prevent such tragedies in the future.
Mr Wahab informed that 1.915 million gallons of water were used to control the fire at Gul Plaza. He further said that earlier today he visited the Hub Reservoir along with journalists, where cleaning of the 15 MGD tanks located at the reservoir is underway after forty years.
On the occasion, KMC City Council Parliamentary Leader Karamullah Waqasi, Deputy Parliamentary Leader Dil Muhammad, Jaman Darwan, elected representatives, and other officers were also present.
Mayor Karachi said that after the recent rains, Hub Dam had been completely filled. A new canal has been constructed at Hub Dam, while measures are also being taken to improve the old canal. He stated that Hub Dam had sufficient capacity to supply water to the city at the rate of 100 MGD for the next three years, while after complete rehabilitation of the old canal, water supply of up to 200 MGD would be possible. He added that the construction work of the new canal was completed within eight months.
He said that discussions were initiated with the federal government to increase water supply by 100 MGD; however, once the water supply started, the lack of reservoir capacity emerged as a challenge. At present, there are two reservoirs of 7.5 MGD each, through which 15 MGD of water will be supplied to District West and Keamari.
Mayor Karachi further said that steps have also been taken for the repair and rehabilitation of the LSR pumping station, which will make it possible to provide an additional 4 to 4.5 MGD of water. He emphasized that responsibility always rests with leadership-people come and go, but leadership remains accountable.
He said that nothing is greater than humanity, and those who are facing hardship and distress must be supported. ‘We must prove through our conduct that political leadership does not indulge in politics over public suffering,’ he said, adding by way of example that a housing society near the Ravi River in Lahore was destroyed, yet it was not termed a tragedy.
The Mayor said that he is not afraid of criticism; even before the construction of the Korangi Causeway bridge, criticism was directed at them. However, he fulfilled the promise made to the people of Korangi and Ibrahim Hyderi. He stated that a bridge was constructed at a cost of Rs. 6 billion to resolve a long-standing issue of Karachi’s citizens.
He said that everyone in Pakistan has the right to speak, but he speaks in accordance with the law as he has studied law. In his view, where money has been spent, people have also benefited. He stressed that work should be carried out in a manner that yields long-term benefits.
Speaking on municipal reforms, Mayor Karachi said that in the past, violations of law and mismanagement caused losses of billions of rupees to institutions. There was no SAP system in Pakistan’s local government institutions earlier, which was formally introduced by the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party to curb irregularities.
He said that due to individuals holding dual employments, institutions continued to suffer heavy financial losses. Last year, KMC’s salary system was shifted to the SAP system, and now all KMC salaries are being disbursed through this system. Soon, the SAP system will also be implemented in the Water Corporation.
He disclosed that 73 employees of the Water Corporation were caught drawing double salaries. The institution has a total of 8,360 employees, out of which around 5,500 have already been shifted to the SAP system. Among them were seven employees who were also drawing salaries from KMC.
He further informed that the Water Corporation had 8,954 pensioners, and the target was to pay March salaries under the SAP system. The purpose of introducing SAP was to ensure transparency, and the system was moving towards improvement.
Karachi Mayor said that by June 30, all contracts, tenders, cheque payments, and pension payments would be processed through the SAP system so that the cheque-based system could be eliminated. He added that financial matters would improve further over the next three to five years.
He announced that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation would carry out road rehabilitation across the city at a cost of Rs46 billion and would play an effective role in strengthening its people.
Finally, the Karachi mayor said that NAB is not run by the Federal Interior Minister but by the Chairman NAB. He clarified that he had neither met the Chairman NAB nor anyone else. He added that in the past, KMC did not carry out work for several years, yet NAB conducted no inquiry.
Clarifying the issue of Gul Plaza’s lease, he said that the lease was granted during the tenures of MQM and Jamaat-e-Islami and that the building was regularized in 2003. He stated that the lease had expired on July 8, 1983, and all documentary evidence was available. He emphasized that it was necessary to inform the public of facts, and that the Chief Minister Sindh had already placed all details of the building before the public. If anyone levels allegations, they should do so with evidence.