The senior minister of Sindh, Sharjeel Inam Memon, said Thursday that the storm drains had been clear in advance and accredited the provincial government of his party for his management of monsoon rains.
Going to a press conference in Karachi, he accused certain media houses of directing a previously planned campaign against the Sindh government led by the Pakistan peoples party while referring to a report published in Dawn newspaper which recognized improved drainage.
Memon said that storm drains had been cleared in advance and that heavy machinery for drainage was deployed. But the lapses could have occurred, he admitted.
Previously, the mayor of Karachi, Murtaza Wahab, had said that the city was dealing with record rainfall to more than 200 mm, while its drainage system has a capacity of only 40 mm.
“Citizens faced difficulties, and that’s why we apologized,” he said, adding that Sindh’s prime minister Murad Ali Shah had personally monitored help efforts.
The press conference began with the prayers for the journalist Khawar Hussain, who was found shot dead in Sanghar earlier this month.
Read: Energy cuts persist as karachi gears for more rain
Pakistan is still one of the lowest taxpayers to global emissions, but he is taking the worst part of climate change, said Memon, echoing Wahab’s comments yesterday attributing the collapse of the city’s road network to the registered rain.
Manghopir registered 246 millimeters of rain and Korangi 140 millimeters, said Memon.
He referred to the deaths and destruction of the monsoon rains in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where the toll is beyond 445 dead, Punjab, who recorded 165 deaths, along with 40 deaths in Sindh, 23 in Baluchistan and eight in Islamabad.
Even the coldest countries are now experiencing temperatures of up to 45 degrees Celsius, said Memon.
He accredited the provincial government for being practical in his approach with senior officials, including the principal minister and local government officers who were on the field during the rains.
Remembering past floods, Memon said that the United Nations Secretary General had once expressed alarm about the drainage mechanism in the city, and said that Sindh’s government of Sindh led by the party of the Peoples of Pakistan had managed to resolve that challenge.
Responding to the criticisms of the Muttahida Qaumi-Pakistan movement (MQM-P), Memon accused the leader of MQM-P Farooq Sattar to try to politicize the problem. Memon added that he had no objections to sit down with Sattar and asked why, if MQM-P leader was so worried, if he had boycotted the local government elections.
