News Desk |
Pakistani artists have come out in full support of Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf’s leader Ali Zaidi’s initiative of cleaning up the metropolitan city of Karachi. Hailing from Karachi, the Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs, on Tuesday announced to clear Karachi from the dumps of garbage accumulated in the city, within two weeks.
Ali Zaidi said he took up the initiative on the orders of Prime Minister Imran Khan after unremoved garbage wreaked havoc on the city, following two days of continuous rain. He assured the federal government is fully backing him in his initiative. He added that he had built the momentum of his clean up drive and several private organizations and celebrities are eager to join hands in the campaign.
Inshallah with the help of the citizens of this great city, we will clean up Karachi from trash in the next 2 weeks. #LetsCleanKHI
— Ali Haider Zaidi (@AliHZaidiPTI) July 31, 2019
What a great message!
Let’s keep our city & our country green #LetsCleanKHI pic.twitter.com/Q1O20ZAmn3— Ali Haider Zaidi (@AliHZaidiPTI) August 2, 2019
The minister noted that they would remove garbage from the metropolis’ six districts. The people of Karachi and the federal government, alongside FixIt founder and the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) member of the National Assembly (MNA), Alamgir Khan, would clean the city.
Social Media Reactions
A much-needed initiative to revitalize the beauty and protect the human life in the city, the stakeholders of Karachi, belonging to various walks of lives, gave an enormous welcome to Ali Zaidi’s announcement on social media.
The local government moaned the lack of funds and authority to clean up the city while the provincial government asserted they have provided the necessary funds to Waseem Akhtar, Mayor of Karachi for the task.
People of Karachi had been desperately looking up to the provincial and federal administrations to address the issue.
‘Lets Clean Karachi‘, a social media trend, heavily trended on Twitter ever since Zaidi’s announcement in which scores of celebrities including Ali Zafar, Strings band, cricketer Wahab Riaz, actor Faysal Qureshi, legendary writer Anwar Maqsood, Shehzad Roy, comedian Ali Gul Pir, journalist Hamid Mir, and Salman Iqbal participated and reiterated their support for the campaign.
Several political leaders from the opposition party expressed their unity for the cause. Raza Haroon, from PSP, hailed Ali Zaidi’s campaign. Capital TV also came forward with their assertion to support his initiative. The Karachi’s major power supplying company K-Electric also pledged support for the cause. Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry also released a press statement lauding the clean Karachi drive.
Shehzad Roy, in particular, stepped forward and recalled the show he recorded with journalist Hamid Mir on dumping untreated sewage in the sea, which was broadcasted on Geo News. He asserted that this matter should be made part of the initiative.
Read more: Pakistan’s toxic ‘love affair’ with plastic
Hamid Mir also shared his picture discussing cleaning Karachi, a few days before the torrential rain lashed the city. The city’s association of journalists also rallied on the roads of Karachi in favor of the cleanliness movement.
Excellent initiative by @AliHZaidiPTI for the city of lights. We Zalmi’s will play in a beautiful Karachi. #LetsCleanKHI
— Wahab Riaz (@WahabViki) August 1, 2019
K-Electric fully supports Karachi cleanup initiative by Mr. Ali Zaidi and will help in every way possible.
— KE (@KElectricPk) July 31, 2019
Good initiative. Must be supported to clean Karachi. The city needs all State stakeholders Federal, Provincial and LocalGovernment on one page including political parties, usual politics aside.
— Raza Haroon رضا ہارون (@mrazaharoon) August 1, 2019
Zabardast initiative, Karachi deserves attention #LetsCleanKHI together
— Imran Ismail (@ImranIsmailPTI) August 1, 2019
Capital TV fully supports Karachi cleanup initiative by Ali Zaidi #CapitalTV #Karachi #AliZaidi @AliHZaidiPTI @PTIofficial @ImranKhanPTI
— Capital TV (@CapitalTVLive) July 31, 2019
Great initiative. Fully support the cause, will be part of it.
Waiting for the plan tomorrow 👍— Alamgir Khan (@AKFixit) July 31, 2019
You revived the issue of dumping untreated sewage in sea recently and now you have taken up #letscleankarachi, demonstrates you care about this city and our country and specially the enviroment . I will go to any extent to support you in this cause 👍 https://t.co/22WWqt6oOg
— Shehzad Roy (@ShehzadRoy) August 1, 2019
A wonderful message by @ybqybq …
“Karachi, Karachi hai!”.
Thank you Yousuf Bashir Qureshi for your support! #LetsCleanKHI and make it the cleanest city! pic.twitter.com/lyaXYs1Vo1— Ammar Zaidi (@ammarhzaidi) August 2, 2019
.@SaeedGhani1 is a person who is the most corrupt in #Sindh Govt. How a head of #Mafia can clean a city, while there task is to completely destroy it. Now , I think it is our duty to #LetsCleanKHI .And if we have to do everything then what are these useless people for. https://t.co/k4LByoYGjC
— Usman Bashir (@UsmanBa01143676) August 2, 2019
Special thanks to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry. It will be great help now that KCCI is involved as well! #LetsCleanKHI pic.twitter.com/tiWkpS17Zy
— Ali Haider Zaidi (@AliHZaidiPTI) August 2, 2019
Great initiative @AliHZaidiPTI ! @KarachiKingsARY and #ARYDigitalNetwork are with you in making our #CityOfLights #Karachi cleaner & brighter! #LetsCleanKHI
— Salman Iqbal ARY (@Salman_ARY) August 1, 2019
2/2 As phase 2, i propose let’s aggressively head on with the #Gogreenkarachi drive. Let’s plant mini forests around and in the city and as many trees as possible. All school and college students along with the citizens should be urged to participate to their best. @AliHZaidiPTI https://t.co/clSmqwLMn7
— Ali Zafar (@AliZafarsays) August 1, 2019
The Persistent Problem of Pollution
Karachi, home to nearly 20 million people, is a multi-ethnic city, and is immensely ignored by the provincial and local governments. Moreover, the scanty development projects accelerating with snail speed adds to the plights of the citizens.
The local government moaned the lack of funds and authority to clean up the city while the provincial government asserted they have provided the necessary funds to Waseem Akhtar, Mayor of Karachi for the task.
The untreated heaps of garbage over the decade are now polluting even the most developed urban areas of the city. Recently, the city confronted severe urban flooding that hampered the lives of citizens. Heaps of solid waste deposited in the drainage pipes obstructed the flow of rainwater causing flood in the city. The rainwater stormed the houses of people in several areas of Karachi. The rainwater mixed with sewerage water gripped areas with the toxic smell.
Read more: Rains hit Sindh: PTI’s Ali Zaidi lambasts PPP governance & Bakhtawar Bhutto
Alamgir Khan, the owner of the social welfare organization, and the legislature of PTI protested against the sitting provincial government of PPP, for their incompetence over the dysfunctional drainage system of the city. The provincial Police arrested him with his workers and jailed him and lodged FIR against him. He was then released after PTI leadership intervened in the matter.