KARACHI: The Sindh government, as well as Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), have been instructed to start de-silting of small dams around the metropolis as weirs around small dams were filled with silt accumulation, reducing the active storage capacity of these structures.
In this regard, the Headquarters Engineers 5 Core Karachi has forwarded a letter to the Secretary Irrigation Department, Government of Sindh, Commissioner KMC, Director General Sindh Small Dams Organization to initiate the de-silting process as earlier as possible besides posting of a regular watchman at the dams.
“Karachi, especially North and North East Karachi (Malir Cantonment and Saadi Town areas) experienced Urban Flooding on July 29 and 30, 2019. The bulk of the damage was caused by water flooding from Lath Nullah, crossing M-9, entering Saadi Town and adjoining areas. An aerial survey was conducted to observe the small drain around the Karachi and their catchment areas on July 30, 2019”, according to an official document.
“It was observed that weirs situated on Lath Nullah, Konkar Nullah and Thado Nullah were filled with silt accumulation, reducing the active storage capacity of these structures. Rainwater, if stored properly would not only have caused reduced damage but also would have had greater storage/recharge for Karachi groundwater table”, the letter added.
The sources further informed that it was also asked to post a watchman for early warning/passing of information on rain and hill torrents in adjoining Nullahs and their distributaries.
Separately, in a statement issued on Monday, Sindh Minister for Information & Archives and Labor Saeed Ghani said that all the waste after being removed from the stormwater drains were being thrown in grounds or other open spaces wherever available in the city in the supervision of the supervisors of Clean Karachi drive.
Saeed Ghani said that he had already requested Ali Zaidi if he was not able to remove the waste from the city in an appropriate manner then it would be better to end his Clean Karachi drive immediately.
