Karachi Blog

Construction work on four flyovers in Karachi worth millions of rupees has been started by the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) from Saturday.

According to informed sources, these are: Nagan Chowrangi, Gulshan Chowrangi, Johar Chowrangi and Askari Chowrangi. The estimated cost of Nagan Chowrangi flyover is Rs 500 million and the cost of other three projects is Rs 450 million each.

City government claims that once these flyovers are completed there would be signal-free corridor from Nagan Chowrangi to Karachi airport. At present there exists a signal-free corridor from SITE to Sharea Faisal.

These are the first flyovers in Karachi which have been started without any tendering process to save time for facilitating the citizens. The consultants have been hired and soil testing of these flyovers has been started.

This is for the first time that the CDGK has adopted this methodology for the completion of these projects without causing delays owing to various kinds of hurdles. It is hoped that soil testing will be completed in a month and during this period tendering process will be completed.

Sources, however, added that with the passage of time adjustments could be made in these projects.

Citizens from every part of the metropolis on Thursday criticised the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) for carrying out announced and unannounced load-shedding in their respective localities. They claimed that the unprincipled attitude of the corporation, especially during such hot and humid weather, had made lives really uneasy for them. Many people called at the offices of The News and showed their anger on the failure of on-going crisis of power supply. They demanded serious action against the administration of the KESC who were not supplying sufficient power to the city to fulfill the requirement.

The Jinnah Garden, union council (UC) 1, Malir Town will soon have street-lights and within Rs50,000, said Nazim Malir Town, Ansar Ahmed Sheikh.

During the inauguration ceremony of the water pipeline project in the area, Sheikh said that every house in the vicinity will receive water at their doorstep. According to a press release issued on Thursday, the spokesperson stated that the budget for the road of the UC1 has been approved and they were waiting for the completion of the water pipeline project to start the work. The town nazim stated that the town administration was working in every UC without any discrimination and the project of sewerage pipeline at Jaffar Tiyar Society, worth Rs25 million is an example of it. Furthermore, the recent development works conducted in Malir town were never done before. He also said that Rs70 million were spent on the projects at Model Colony, UC1 and no such example was available in the past to compare it with the work conducted by the current town administration.

SHAH FAISAL TOWN: The Nazim Shah Faisal Town, Mohammad Imran has directed his staff to remove sewerage lines from storm water drains. He said this while inspecting the ongoing fumigation and anti-malarial campaign during his visit to the UCs of the town. He stated that the cleanliness drive will remain active till the drains are completely cleaned. He instructed his team to take all possible measures to facilitate the people with a clean and healthy environment and the concerned department was ordered to immediately dispose solid wastes taken out of these drains during their cleanliness campaign so that the public has no complaints.

BALDIA TOWN: The town administration of Baldia Town was using all available resources to facilitate the people of the town, said Nazim Baldia Town, Kamran Akhtar on Thursday. A press release issued by the town administration said that they were focussing on every issue related to the town and were facilitating people without any discrimination. While inspecting the C.C Flooring project at the UC 4-F and 4-G, the town nazim stated that such a project will provide a base for a fundamental infrastructure of the town.

LYARI TOWN: The Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) has warned the public to stop the selling and purchasing of shops that are part of the Karachi Financial Tower Project (KFTP).

A press release said that the KBCA has declared the advertisement and selling of the shops under the KFTP illegal, especially since they don’t have an NOC. .

In addition to the warning, partition walls of fifth and sixth floor and roof of plot No 744, street no. 15/16, E Road Bahar Colony, Lyari town were demolished by KBCA as it was illegal.

SITE TOWN: The SITE town municipal administration has launched a cleanliness campaign. According to a media release.

The Adviser to the Chief Minister Sindh for Information Technology (IT), Nauman Saigal, has announced that the smart green energy project has been functional from Thursday. He said this while presiding over a meeting of the EDO of IT at his office. The representatives of the German firm FESH, who have invested in this project, were also present on the occasion.

In a press release issued on Thursday, Saigal said that the project will assist to generate solar energy through automation process which will provide cheap electricity to the people. Describing the project, he added that it will help to overcome the increasing demand of electricity in the prevailing crisis. He told the EDO present in the meeting that the project is a pilot enterprise and will provide electricity to small villages and far flung areas which are deprived of electricity. He also ordered IT sectors of every district to educate the area people.

Saigal stressed the need to obtain services of different banks and leasing companies to process easy loans to the low income class, enabling them to avail the facilty of the smart green energy project.

KARACHI: According to the WHO there are 2.5 million tuberculosis (TB) patients in Pakistan which means that every year 171 persons are infected with the disease.This was revealed at a scientific session on TB, organised by the Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) at its campus on Monday.

The Vice Chancellor DUHS, Prof Masood Hameed Khan informed the audience that TB was considered to be an incurable disease however the advancement in medical science has made it possible to cure it if the disease is diagnosed in time.

“The alarming spread of TB is due to poor health conditions, adulterated food, contaminated water and low immunity.” Prof Masood further said that in order to overcome this disease we need to launch an organised campaign against it to create awareness.

“This campaign may start with the support of NGOs at schools, colleges, universities and union council levels. Media can also play an organised role in this connection,” he suggested.The Director of Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases and TB expert Dr Ashraf Sadiq informed the audience in his presentation that there were 16.2 million TB patients throughout the world. Every second, a person gets infected from the disease and thus every year some 8.5 million persons get affected by this. Developing countries are most affected by TB and Pakistan ranks 7th among the most affected countries.

The speakers included eminent health experts like Dr Faizullah Shafqat, Prof Zaman Shiekh, and Dr Sharaf Ali Shah. The experts also presented their papers on TB, situation in Pakistan, TB and AIDS, TB and Diabetes, diagnosis, prevention and treatment regimes.

KARACHI: Capital City Police Officer (CCPO), Azhar Ali Farooqi, directed the Operation, Investigation and CID departments to take effective security arrangements for Eid Milad-un-Nabi on Rabi-ul-Awwal. Azhar instructed the officials to keep their intelligence network activated and ensure deployment of security personnel at religious gatherings. He also ordered the staff to keep vigil and carry out heavy patrolling in their respective areas. The CCPO also directed the traffic police to make comprehensive traffic and parking arrangements on the eve of Eid. He directed the police officials to keep close coordination with the elected representatives of their respective areas so that security could be ensured during the religious celebrations. Azhar directed the DIG Operations, DIG Traffic, TPOs, Zonal SSPs of the traffic police, SDPOs, SHOs and officers to personally monitor the security arrangements for Eid Milad-un-Nabi.

KARACHI: The City District Government Karachi (CDGK) is making all efforts to encourage Karachiites to use paper bags in place of plastic bags.

The CDGK officials had a meeting with the manufacturers and suppliers of plastic bags who asked for a substitute. On the request of the city government these private parties have asked for some time to prepare paper bags which will cost them more than plastic bags.

The CDGK informed the private parties that the solid waste management department will recycle the paper which will in turn reduce the cost. The City Municipal officer Masood Alam while talking to The News on Monday said, “We have already designed these bags and they have been sent to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for approval.”

The bags are quite handy as a cord has been attached to them which will help citizens, particularly, women can carry them around easily. Alam said that once these recycled bags are introduced, the plastic bags will be automatically eliminated. The citizens have welcomed this initiative by the city government and are responding well. Many women have been seen carrying cloth bags, which shows their acceptance towards this step. The city government is also trying to introduce the design of these bags at all levels especially at the school level.

The city government officials along with volunteers will visit schools and try to educate children about the advantages of using paper bags and to discourage the use of plastic bags. He said that at present the government is distributing coloured bags free of cost.

Replying to a question he said that through the Sindh Government and the EPA some tax relief will be given to these manufacturers, as they claimed that some 30,000 people were attached to this plastic manufacturing business. “The CDGK does not want to make such a large number of people jobless,” Alam said. The plastic bags will not go to waste. Sources say they will be used to be cut into pieces and then utilised for making tiles or pipes.

KARACHI: The Provincial Police Officer, Sindh, Jehangir Mirza has expressed deep concern over the reports being received from the press and other sources that the sale

KARACHI: Despite the fact that the government officially banned the use of polythene bags in early 2006, the law is still not being properly implemented.

The former Director-General of the Environment Protection Department (EPD), Dr Iqbal Saeed Khan says the ban was imposed under him and there had been strict monitoring, but only for a few months. In July 2006, after businesses and manufacturing companies began objecting to the law the Govt ceased its implementation.

Some small-scale businesses are still using black polythene bags, termed the worst of all by the health examiners. Other bags are also discouraged by the government for various reasons, especially those that are under the official limit of 30 microns. The problem with polythene bags is that they comprise non-biodegradable substances because of which, they cannot be recycled. They are used by the majority of the businesses in Karachi as packing materials, and despite the fact that they are cheap as well as light they are hazardous in more than one way.

As a result, they can act as breeding places for many types of germs. In Karachi, this is a common problem. Many bags simply collect in gutters and damp places, where bacteria and germs develop. Also, the fact that they are very light makes it very easy for them to be blown around leading to the littering of the environment.

Over time, it has been proven that polythene bags are environmentally unfriendly because of the time taken for their decomposition. As a result of this they cause further problems such as blocking water penetration into the soil, which in turn affects food growth and development, along with other problems such as creating blockage in pipelines. Blockage of pipes can eventually lead to the spread of epidemics and diseases such as cholera, gastro-enteritis, and other waterborne diseases. Since polythene bags are cheap, the majority of people can afford them. They are therefore, widely used as packing bags in the country with the biggest percentage of users in the urban areas. Besides this they are easy to carry and are portable.

According to Pirzada, who is the Director General of the monitoring cell in the EPD, the problem of the polythene bags is more regarding the size rather than the weight. He says that the weight does not matter much; it is in fact the size that results in being hazardous to the environment. “People don’t understand that when you burn these bags, the gases emanated are highly dangerous to human health,” he says.

Ahmed Saeed of the IUCN, who is responsible for the Ecosystem and Livelihoods group, explains that the contradiction lies in setting the control methods. He says that although IUCN has worked with the government, since 1994, the present Governor of Sindh again stressed upon this law, in 2005. The black bags were the ones, which were banned first, and this was successful, but the other polythene bags could not be banned because they had a high utility. People did not replace polythene with anything else, because in some cases, there was no better alternate for a polythene bag.

But Saeed says by simply banning the bags it will be proved that the government is unable to manage the issue properly. The solution lies, he says, in banning the smaller bags, but keeping the larger ones, because they can still be utilised, and also by stressing on the solid waste management system. The EPD really has no proper benchmark to measure the official weight and size of any bag. From which end the govt will control the situation is yet undecided and vague. Will it be the producers, too many of whom are unregistered and difficult to trace, or will it be the wholesalers?

KARCHI: Two teams of National Accountability Bureau Sindh (NAB) taking notice of public complaints paid surprise visits to Passport Office, Sadar and State Life Insurance Corporation Building-2, at I I Chundrigar Road and took notice of absentee staff, checked record and inspected activities and performance of these offices.

An officer of NAB said that a team of Special Operation Wing raided the Passport Office and inspected its various sections. It checked the record, noted agents’ activities and their contacts with the officials. They also noted the absence of staff and overcharging of banking fees. He added that the second team paid surprise visit to the State Life Building and sought details from the officials and staff about the budget and accounts, claims, record rooms and staff attendance. The team inspected various sections of the office and checked the record of fake claims. The team found 30 per cent employees absent from the duty and noted their names.