FEDERAL government launched a two-week cleanliness drive in Karachi on Sunday after monsoon downpours wreaked havoc in the provincial capital which once again exposed sanitation and sewerage problems of the city as well as inadequacies of relevant departments to deal with any calamity like situation.
Cleanliness drives are not new to the city. These were launched in previous years also to purge the city of heaps of garbage yet unlike the past, current drive spearheaded by Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi is special in the sense that it has received an overwhelming response from different segments of the society including business community, cricketers, showbiz stars and so on. Because of this massive support Minister for Maritime Affairs is beaming with confidence to free the city from garbage and excessive waste. Indeed Ali Zaidi deserves appreciation for coming forward on the instructions of PM Imran Khan and engaging with different departments and segments of the society to make the drive successful, which will work in two phases.
In the first phase cleaning of all deep and main drainages will be carried out while in second phase clearing of stocked and piled up garbage in the city would take place. Certainly such a systematic and coordinated approach was required to deal with hundreds of millions of garbage that has mounted up in the city over the last many decades. The logistics support to be provided by Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) as well as NLC will really help the drive achieve its desired objectives. Responsibility also rests with locals to become part of this campaign and extend full cooperation to those engaged in cleaning their city. Federal government should not forget Karachi after two weeks drive rather it should provide all possible resources and logistics to relevant departments to maintain cleanliness in all localities of Karachi. Banning use of plastic bags will also go a long way in keeping drains open and protect our sea from waste pollution.
