KARACHI – Ismail Suttar, President of Employers’ Federation of Pakistan (EFP), has blatantly resented the dismal performances of the municipal authorities of Karachi, in particular the Cantonment Board of Clifton (CBC), Defense Housing Authority (DHA) and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) despite being forewarned about monsoon spell by Pakistan Meteorological Department and Ali Zaidi, Federal Cabinet Minister.
In a Statement, Ismail Suttar said that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PMDA) seemed to have completely missed out on coordinating with utility providers like K-Electric and Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KW&SB), which directly impacted timely response to rescue the death-struck citizens of Karachi.
“Being the Apex Body of Manufacturers of Pakistan, the EFP lamented at the Karachi Electric (KE) for mismanaging affairs while long-maintaining a dilapidated and incompetent transmission system that unfortunately requires to be shut down to prevent any electrocution incidences during monsoon”, On this, Ismail Suttar called for water-proof electricity supply structure and urged the Federal government to expedite plans of EFP proposed formation of power markets and Regional Transmission Operators (RTOs) in a densely populated city of Karachi.
The August 2020 cumulative rainfall of 442 mm shattered the previous 429.3 mm level of 1967, Ismail reflected, but no one appeared keen enough to clean up the clogged drainage and sewerage systems installed under illegal construction and plantation sites. He held the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and KDA, DHA and CBC fully accountable for allowing the encroachment to happen on grounds of dishonest persuasion by concerned parties.
Underpasses made by the provincial government got flooded to the top. Factory basements of several key GDP contributors such as furniture, clothing, electronics, cement were destroyed, proclaimed Ismail Suttar. Where is the mayor? Is there no city administration? Where did the budget allotted for development of Karachi spent? Who permitted construction of illegal buildings over storm drainages? Several questions were raised by the EFP Board of Advisors.
Ismail Suttar vehemently regretted economic losses of over Rs. 200 billion during August to have occurred at a time when Pakistan is just recovering from the COVID Pandemic. Karachi is the bread and butter of Pakistan and if God Wills it should be transformed into a prefecture like Tokyo, Japan, with each district (Saddar, Gulshan, etc.) having one supreme authority granted complete administration jurisdiction.
EFP president demanded a judicial inquiry to evaluate the cost of damages suffered by people of Karachi due to inadequate Nallas and storm drainages, and prolonged power and gas outages that continued for over 100 hours in some cases.
