KARACHI: Past mismanagement has ruined the traditional beauty of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s city, Prime Minister Imran Khan said Friday during a meeting with the federal minister for maritime affairs, Ali Haider Zaidi, at the PM Office.

Zaidi had visited the PM to brief him on the ongoing cleanliness operations under Let’s Clean Karachi Campaign.

PM Imran said the lives of Karachi’s residents have been made miserable and the distressing situation of Pakistan’s southern port city — the economic hub of Pakistan — needed to be remedied.

The premier noted that such a blithe lack of concern had made Karachi’s residents suffer and directed all elected members of his party, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in the national and provincial assemblies to overwhelmingly take part in the Let’s Clean Karachi Campaign.

Taking notice of the inadequate number of garbage transfer stations in Karachi, a key metropolis for the whole country — especially in terms of economy, trade, and business — PM Imran, therefore, ordered the concerned authorities to increase the number via a well-coordinated strategy to ensure proper trash disposal.

Separately, while Karachi reels from the aftermath of a disastrous monsoon spell, the sprawling metropolis of nearly 20 million is once again been held hostage to blame games as politicians engage in a war of words.

No respite for Karachi

Politicians in power in Karachi, on the other hand, have been slinging mud and responsibilities at each other, often engaging in publicity stunts on social media, and refusing to take the needed action.

On Wednesday, while speaking to media at the launch of a clean-up campaign in Malir Town’s Saudabad area, Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar held Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah responsible for the city’s plight as the latter holds the charge of the chairperson of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) and the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB).

“The water accumulated in the streets is not rainwater but overflowing sewage and the problem can be solved only when the KWSB and the SSWMB mend their ways,” the mayor said.

“The SSWMB spent Rs24 billion on cleaning Karachi but could not get rid of tonnes of garbage present on the streets,” he added, asking Karachiites to stop paying taxes to the Sindh government.

Zaidi’s initiative ‘only making it dirtier’

However, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Saeed Ghani jumped into the brawl and, reacting to Akhtar’s comments, declared the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) as the PTI’s B team.

“It seems like the Karachi Mayor is on the PTI’s agenda,” he remarked, adding that the Clean Karachi campaign was “merely continuing on Twitter.

“PPP cannot ignore Karachi,” he said, and claimed that PTI minister Ali Haider Zaidi’s initiative to clean the city was “only making it dirtier”.

On the other hand, Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) chief Mustafa Kamal demanded that Akhtar’s name be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL), adding that the latter “doesn’t [do anything] despite having resources and power” to do so.

Kamal asked: “Who should we ask to clean Karachi? The United Nations?”

The former mayor lamented that the city was in shambles but the centre, as well as the provincial and local governments, were busy locking horns with each other rather than making efforts to fix the issues.

Responding to his remarks, Akhtar said Karachi had rejected Kamal. “What else has he done apart from china-cutting?” the mayor asked.

Meanwhile, Zaidi, the federal minister for maritime affairs who launched the Let’s Clean Karachi Campaign earlier this month, mocked the SSWMB for its failure to resolve the city’s solid waste woes. “DMC South Karachi has more than a 100 vehicles marked with a logo of SSWMB!

“Just in case u wondered, it stands for SINDH SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT BOARD. No comments,” he said on Twitter.

Will clean Karachi in two weeks: Zaidi

Interestingly, however, more than two weeks ago, Zaidi had vowed to clean up Karachi in just two weeks.

He said he had built a momentum for the clean-up campaign for and multiple organisations would collaborate in the drive.

The minister had said he would remove garbage from the metropolis’ six districts. The people of Karachi and the federal government, alongside FixIt founder and the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) member of the National Assembly (MNA), Alamgir Khan, would clean the city.

Zaidi had also demanded that Ghani, also a leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), be removed from his post.

There would not have been any stagnant water on the roads had the 38 nullahs (drains) been cleaned, he had added, referring to the rainwater that inundated several parts of the densely-populated metropolis following a two-day spell of torrential rain.

There was a lot of garbage in Ghani’s constituency, as well as other problems, the federal minister had underscored, adding that that showed what kind of work the provincial government had done.

‘Wearing colourful jackets’ was ‘of no use’

Zaidi had also spoken of how Akhtar, the Karachi mayor, had been requesting for more authority. The southern port city, he had noted, was a part of Sindh as well and Akhtar its mayor.

Almost 6,000 tonnes of garbage is thrown into the sea every day, the PTI leader said, adding that Ghani should be asked to resign immediately from local government ministership after his failure.

“Wearing colourful jackets like [Opposition leader] Shehbaz Sharif does is of no use,” Zaidi mentioned. “Saeed Ghani has failed.”

It is noteworthy that rains in the metropolis in the first and second weeks of August had wreaked havoc on the city’s sewerage and electricity infrastructure, submerging some areas under water while leaving others in darkness.

Major thoroughfares were drowned under several feet of rainwater, with drains and canals in the city overflowing and low-lying residential areas submerged in the water pouring in from the streets outside.

Most of the houses in these areas had rainwater seeping in.