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How Karachi DMCs are tackling the coronavirus pandemic

  • April 07, 2020

There are six district municipal corporations in Karachi. Almost all of them claim that they have disinfected their respective districts.

Here are the measures taken by these DMCs to reduce the risk of the coronavirus spread.

District Central 

It is the largest district of Karachi having a population of around 3.5million. It has 51 union councils. 

Central DMC Chairman Rehan Hashmi told SAMAA Digital that they have covered half of the total union councils in terms of disinfection of streets, roads and pedestrian bridges.

The disinfectant contains different antiseptics, including Chemgene, Deltanar, Verocid, Dettol and chlorine.

“We are fumigating through tankers and bowsers outside mosques, parks, hospitals, dispensaries and residential areas on a daily basis,” Hashmi said.

The Central DMC chairman said the population of the district was 3.5 million as per the last census, but it had almost jumped to 5 million.

He said the federal and provincial governments were not providing any funds and equipment to the Central DMC to tackle the prevailing situation.

Hashmi said their sanitation and municipal staff was working 16 to 18 hours daily. “The DMC Central will complete disinfection of all union councils by the next week,” he added.

District West 

District West has 46 union councils. It has a population of around 3 million. Izhar Ahmed Khan of the MQM-P is the chairman of DMC West. 

Khan says the DMC West has completed the fumigation campaign in all its union councils.

“We started the disinfection from March 20 and the entire process was completed in 15days,” he told Samaa Digital.

The West DMC chairman said the corporation has already formed a taskforce which would be working in case of an emergency.

“The taskforce will reach the spot in case of any suspected coronavirus case and disinfect the entire area,” he said.

Khan said the West DMC was also distributing 20 to 25 ration bags among the poor people on a daily basis.

District Korangi

The Korangi district has a total of 37 union councils. Its population is around 3.2 million. MQM-P’s Nayyar Raza heads the Korangi DMC.

Korangi DMC spokesperson Mohammad Ayaz told SAMAA Digital that there are six union councils in the Model Colony area where the disinfection process had been completed.

He said they were going to start the campaign in Korangi, which would be followed by fumigation in Landhi and Shah Faisal areas.

District East

There are 31 union councils in District East. It has a population of around 3 million. Moid Anver of the MQM-P heads the East DMC.

Anver said the municipal corporation has completed the disinfection process in all union councils.

“We have started the second phase of the campaign from Monday, in which fumigation would be conducted in all streets, markets, mosques and parks,” he said.

District South

The District South has 31 union councils. Its population is also around 3 million as per the recent census. PPP’s Malik Fayyaz is the chairman of DMC South.

DMC South spokesperson Asif Azeem said they have completed fumigation in all residential areas, including Lyari, Saddar, Arambagh and Garden.

He said the DMC South in the second phase had started fumigating markets, shops, mosques and parks with the help of tankers and bowsers.

The DMC South spokesperson said that squash legend Jahangir Khan and hockey Olympian Islahuddin were also taking part in the coronavirus awareness campaign in the district.

District Malir

The story of the Malir district is entirely different from all other districts. It is the smallest district in terms of union councils. It has only 12 union councils with a population of around 2.7million. 

PPP’s Jan Muhammad Baloch heads the Malir DMC. No such activities have been observed in the district regarding the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Malir DMC chairman was not available for comment despite several attempts by Samaa Digital.

Malir DMC spokesperson Muhammad Saleem Khan’s phone was also switched off, when reached.

Article source: https://www.samaa.tv/news/pakistan/2020/04/how-karachi-dmcs-are-tackling-the-coronavirus-pandemic/

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