In a gentle jibe aimed at former home minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad said that political garbage will also be cleaned in the city during the ongoing cleaning drive, claiming that Mirza, despite trying, could not create a gulf in relations between the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
He was talking with journalists during his visit to inspect cleaning measures in different towns of the metropolis on Friday. Sindh Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani, Karachi Administrator Muhammad Hussain Syed, District Coordination Officer Roshan Ali Shaikh, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board Managing Director Misbahuddin Farid, executive district officers and other city government officers accompanied the governor on his visit.
Talking to media representatives, Ebad said that problems of local government will be resolved shortly and Mirza will fail to create hurdles between PPP and MQM. “The fate of the local government system would be sorted out through consensus, but the actual thing is service to the masses and resolving their grievances. The organisations concerned are playing a positive role in this regard.”
He also said that he had not convened a Sindh Assembly session. The Sindh governor said that the ongoing cleanliness drive has brought positive results and improved the overall sanitation conditions in the city. “Now we need to not only maintain this standard but also try to make it even better”. “In the towns we visited, we found the conditions much better. The town administration with elected representatives, MPAs and city government’s staff worked together and not only improved the sanitation conditions but also accelerated the pace of work on developmental projects,” he added.
On the occasion, Durrani said that it is a wrong perception that President Asif Ali Zardari is behind Dr Mirza’s recent outbursts. “Such kind of propaganda is incorrect.” The PPP wants a local bodies system that is beneficial not for only one or two cities [but the whole province], he said. Earlier, the provincial governor along with the local government minister had paid a detailed visit to the Shah Faisal, Korangi, Landhi, Bin Qasim, Gadap and Malir towns, where he inspected cleanliness conditions and work on developmental projects.
Ebad also visited the storm water drain being constructed at the Do Talwar, Clifton and directed early completion of the project.
