Deputy Commissioner of Hyderabad, Fuad Ghaffar Soomro, announced on Tuesday that the city’s Emergency Rescue Service 1122 would be launched by 2023. He also disclosed that an agreement had been signed for solid waste management in the city, and that garbage disposal would begin by August.
Soomro was speaking to members of the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) when he made the announcements. He also said that the city’s SITE area filtration plant had been made functional and would soon be handed over to the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa).
“Water quality in Hyderabad is significantly better than in Karachi,” he said. He added that, with a 1,000 megawatt electricity shortfall, power outages had increased in the city and were adversely affecting the water supply and drainage sector. He promised to resolve the issues of wedding halls and marriage gardens and said that the city also needed underpasses.
The president of the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI), Adeel Siddiqui, has called on the business community to cooperate with the city government on initiatives to refurbish and beautify greenbelts and roundabouts. He also assured the business community that the city government would prioritize resolving issues related to the fruit market.
Mr. Siddiqui’s remarks came in the wake of reports that production in small and medium enterprises has been declining due to rising petroleum prices, electricity and gas tariffs, and unscheduled power cuts.
He stated that administrative issues were causing problems for industrialists. He explained that the city needed a well-equipped firefighting system. He also pointed out that potable water was not available in many areas of Latifabad, and that insanitation was affecting business activities.
He said that he fears urban flooding during the ongoing monsoon season, while Wasa fails to provide facilities to residents. He went on to say that traders are not being issued licences by the concerned department, and Sindh Food Authority staff is imposing penalties on shops and factories unendingly. According to him, residents also face difficulties in the mutation of properties and succession documents.
He proposed that private companies develop and beautify greenbelts and main roundabouts. He said Bhitai hospital should be upgraded and underpasses should be built at Shahbaz, Labbayk, Latifabad and Hussainabad roundabouts.
The DC was drawn to administrative action like sealing of wedding halls without any notice, to which he said that halls’ management could sit with the administration to address problems; as they had stood with it during the Covid-19 period. HCCI vice president Najamuddin Qureshi presented a vote of thanks.
