Karachi:
The Karachi Citizens’ Forum (KCF) held a press conference on Tuesday, expressing its concern in the face of recurrent urban floods that paralyzed the city after all precipitation. The forum noted that even a brief period of rain properties damages companies, disrupts companies, leads to loss of lives, leads to the closing of schools, causes traffic blocks and leaves citizens blocked on flooded roads.
The conference noted that, despite the weather warnings from the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the city, once again, was not prepared this Mousson season. The conference recommended the creation of a central authority, made up of urban planners and citizen stakeholders, to coordinate efforts between founded entities. He underlined the need for a municipal plan that is the resulting of current challenges as well as future requests, highlighting the importance of transparency and responsibility for infrastructure expenditure, which, according to it, should be ensured by digitization and public surveillance. In addition, the conference has urged the prioritization of public protection initiatives, such as repairing sanitation systems, carrying out public transport projects and rehabilitation of water treatment facilities, rather than allocating resources to non -essential cosmetic developments.
The conference urged the in -depth application of environmental regulations, the holding of negligent managers, the limitation of illegal encroachments and the regulation of the production and use of plastic bags. He concluded by declaring: “Karachi deserves competent governance, honest supervision and sustainable development”.
