Will clean Karachi in two weeks: Ali Zaidi

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi, on Thursday vowed to clean up Pakistan's commercial hub, Karachi, in just two weeks.

Speaking to Geo News, Zaidi announced his claim, saying he had built momentum for the clean-up campaign for Karachi and multiple organisations would be collaborating in the drive.

The minister noted that they 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 also demanded that Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani, also a leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), be removed from his post.

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

It was obvious that when garbage from the drainage lines was not cleaned, water would flood the neighbourhoods, Zaidi stressed further, adding that the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) had highlighted the preparations of the Sindh government beforehand.

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

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

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Police on Sunday detained PTI MNA Alamgir Khan and three others as FixIt and PPP workers clashed at a protest outside local government minister's office

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."

With regard to the 19 people who were electrocuted to death during the torrential rains over the past few days, the federal minister said the K-Electric (KE), Karachi's sole power supplier, would be held answerable.

A day prior, Ghani hinted that the provincial government may take legal action against the KE for the recent deaths from electrocution. He had held the federal and local governments responsible for the chaos that arose in the city.

KE's alleged negligence, dilapidated network cost 19 lives, including six children

KE's alleged negligence and dilapidated network, including messy, high-powered naked wires and electric poles, cost 19 lives, including those of six children

"As far as action against K-Electric is concerned, the Sindh government has no such mechanism [to act against it], and the federal government should do what it can," the local government minister had said.

"But as far as the loss of lives [due to electrocution] is concerned, definitely on that — but I won’t go into detail on this right now — the provincial government will take action on this according to the law.

"We will take whatever action that we can take," he had said, hinting towards the likelihood of legal action against the electricity provider.