Oil cleanup drive in Korangi

CDGK lodges FIR against SSGC officials

* SSGC suspends six officials for negligence

 

By Jamil Khan | KARACHI

 

THE City District Government Karachi (CDGK) lodged an FIR against the officials that caused the crude oil pipeline damage that led to panic in the Korangi area.

The Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) also suspended six senior officials and conducted an inquiry and the report will be submitted within the next 48-hours, Daily Times learnt on Thursday.

Following the oil rain incident, various activities were seen in the area as the city government and town administration officials were seen busy cleaning the roads and inner streets inundated with thick layers of crude oil.

Due to the heavy oil spill, more than 200 houses built along the PARCO main pipeline suffered majorly. The city government, SSGC and provincial health department set up camps in the area, which, were stocked with edible items, medical necessities, and potable water as the main natural gas supply was disconnected.

The city government provided all necessary household commodities to the residents who were unable to reach their houses, as there was knee-deep crude oil on the roads besides the foul smell that kept the area inhabitable.

The SSGC and Sindh government medical camps also have teams of doctors and paramedics who attended to the area residents who had sinus problems because of the smell of crude oil. The SSGC, through a notification, confirmed that six senior executives have been suspended for their negligence, which led to the incident while a high-level committee was also formed to conduct an inquiry on the matter. “The committee will submit its report within the next 48-hours to determine the causes,” it said.

The SSGC also appreciated the cooperation of the city government and others in the operation.

City Nazim Mustafa Kamal, while talking to media, said that the city government has no authority to take action against people who illegally dug roads.

“To protect the newly constructed roads, the city government has imposed Section 144 and it was made compulsory for all utility service departments to obtain permission before they dug up roads either from concerned town administrations or the city government. The SSGC, however, had not taken this seriously which caused this mishap,” he said.

He mentioned that the officials had illegally dug up Road 16,000 and damaged the crude oil pipeline, which resulted in the inconvenience in a three-kilometer radius. The city government lodged an FIR 460/2008 at the Zaman Town Police Station.

Sindh Health Minister Saghir Ahmed and City Naib Nazim Nasreen Jalil also visited the area on Thursday and reviewed the cleaning operation being done by the city government officials.

-Published in Daily Times | Dec 19, 2008

City Council: Centre asked to bring about KESC tariff cut

By Jamil Khan | KARACHI

 

MEMBERS of the city council have asked the federal government to intervene and pressurise the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) management to reduce tariff and demanded that the KESC tariff be linked to the international furnace oil prices.

The special session, held at the City Council Secretariat on Thursday to discuss KESC’s excess bills, was chaired by City Naib Nazim Nasreen Jalil. The house adopted the resolution on a majority basis, as opposition members staged a token walk out and did not take part in the voting. The debate was opened by treasury member Abdul Jalil, who stated that in the current winter season, the demand for electricity in Karachi was reduced from 2600 MW to 1600 MW and even after this reduction, citizens are still facing five to six hour long load-shedding.

“The present KESC management, which consists of close relatives of high government officials, is not focusing on improving generation capacity and benefiting the consumers,” he said.

He mentioned that KESC should reduce its non-production expenditures and criticized the recent increment announced for its 800 engineers from the ratio of Rs 5000 to Rs 36,000. Jalil stated that the present management is doing what it can to maintain their profit margin, they are fleecing innocent consumers by issuing excess bills with surcharge and also threatening them through their meter-reading staff. He said that KESC has also reduced the generation capacity of its power generation plants by 50 percent and are now solely depending on the Water and Power Development Authority’s (WAPDA) subsidized electricity.

“Around a month and a half ago, KESC announced a 40 percent relief to the consumers but, so far, neither a proper notification has been issued nor has the deduction been applied and the consumers are still receiving exorbitant bills,” he said. Jalil also demanded that the Federal Ministry of Water and Power should look into the matter and take control of KESC. He stated that it was the provincial government’s responsibility to maintain a suitable tariff for the consumers.

Juman Darwan from the opposition benches said that they objected from the first day of KESC’s privatisation and now the government has no control regarding the matter. He said that all political parties should come forward and resolve the KESC issue for the greater interest of the public. “It seems that the federal and provincial government is helpless when it comes to controlling KESC fleecing its consumers. The city council has passed a resolution and demanded the federal government to take control of KESC but all in vain,” he said. He further demanded that the details of KESC’s privatisation be made public.

Treasury Bench Leader Asif Siddiqui demanded that the details of the current agreement with the new KESC management be made public, rather than matters of the past being dug up and brought into light. A number of speakers from both benches spoke on the occasion and suggested that the government put pressure on the KESC management to comply on the points of agreement, including the investment of Rs 5 billion in power generation as short-term policy and Rs 20 billion as a long-term policy, besides improving the power distribution network.

Earlier, Anwar Baloch and Muhamamd Rafiq of the Opposition tried to highlight other issues, including water scarcity in different city areas and the recent violence, in which over 60 people were killed, however, the convener did not allow a discussion on these topics. Saifuddin, another opposition member, submitted a resolution to pay tribute to the Iraqi journalist who hurled shoes at the US President George Bush but the convener nullified the resolution and persisted that the debate should be strictly based on the KESC issue. Later, the convener adjourned the session till 3 pm on December 20, 2008.

-Published in Daily Times | Dec 19, 2008

Sindh Police: Anti-Extremism Cell set up

By Jamil Khan | KARACHI

 

A NEW section, Anti-Extremism Cell (AEC) with all latest equipments have been established to cope with every type of terrorism and extremism in the province and also work with other provinces to do so. The cell was set up on the directive of Sindh Home Department led by SP Arshad Kamal and will work under Additional IG Sindh Special Branch.

The IG Sindh Sultan Salahuddin Babar Khattak had inaugurated the cell set up in Police Headquarters Garden on Thursday.

In the first phase, total 100 policemen including two DSPs, four inspectors, 10 assistant inspectors, 20 head constables and 15 constables deputed in the cell. The AEC will also be given nine four-wheelers including seven cars, two pick-ups and 24 motorcycles, five computers, five laser printers, five UPS, two fax machines, two photocopiers, three video cameras and three still cameras.

The IG Sindh Khattak said that the police department had deputed senior experienced officials in the cell to uprooted extremism and terrorism and also equipped with all modern facilities.

“The AEC was set up on the directives Sindh government to stop the incidents of terrorism and extremism and it will linked up with other provinces to take action against such elements,” he said. He said that every department of police is being upgrading besides granting all facilities to benefit the police force.

PROMOTION: Chairing a high-level meeting, the Sindh IG Sultan Salahuddin Babar Khattak has said that the police department will encourage the promote all those officials who have graduation degree and know-how of computer-related education.

In this regard, all regional high police officers have been directed to send the lists of all such graduate and information technology educated officials to the department. These officials will be promoted as ASI and use these qualified forces in the IT related projects of police department, he said.

-Published in Daily Times | Dec 19, 2008