The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and FWO teams reached Gujjar Nullah here on Monday morning to assist the civilian authorities in clearance of the city’s mostly encroached sewerage drains, it has been learnt. It is to note that the Meteorological Departmenthas issued a warning that Karachi and lower Sindh can suffer from urban flooding in the days to come, as the fourth looming monsoon spell may wreak more havoc in the province than the earlier three spells. The institution predicted that the fourth spell of monsoon rain, which is forecast from August 7-8, can result in more rain than the previous three spells. A low-lying pressure system, formed in the Bay of Bengal, is expected to enter Sindh on August 6. The Frontier Works Organization (FWO) personnel reached Gujjar Nullah with over 50 dumpers, cranes and other machinery to remove garbage, which had choked free flow of the water in the drain in recent rainfall and submerged adjacent area. Paramilitary Rangers personnel were also deployed at the site of the drain clearance work. The drive has been launched under the oversight of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) The garbage from the sewerage drain was being immediately transferred to the landfill site. The drain clearance work has also been started at ‘Cafe Piala’ in Federal B’ Area of Karachi with heavy machinery and other equipment. NDMA Chairman Lt. General Muhammad Afzal on Sunday in a media briefing said that NDMA was tasked to clear encroached nullahs in Karachi and asked the federal and the provincial authorities to sit together to resolve the city’s long-standing issues as temporary measures would only subside them rather than solving them permanently. Muhammad Afzal said that the NDMA has launched the cleanliness drive in the city and would take measures to minimize the effects from rainfall as compared to the past. He said there are chances of another spell of rain in the city from 7 to 9 August. Addressing a media briefing, he said that six days of August are important for Karachi as there is a prediction of rainfall in the city from 7 to 9 August and then a weak system would remain in the city, which would cause little drizzle from time to time in the metropolis till August 15. He said that 83 mm rain was recorded in Karachi during one hour in a day previously after which the Prime Minister directed him to reach the city to carry out relief activities. The water was, however, drained out when I reached Karachi, Muhammad Afzal said. “Karachi issues could only be solved after realizing the issues faced by the city,” he said and added that 20,000 tonnes of garbage was generated in the city daily but there is no mechanism to dispose it off.
