ýkarachi: Leader of the Opposition in Karachi City Council Saifuddin Advocate, along with nine town chairmen of the Jamaat-e-Islami, called on incumbent Managing Director Sindh Solid Waste Management Board.ýýDuring the meeting, detailed discussion was held on the deteriorating sanitation situation in Karachi, door-to-door garbage collection system, cleaning of streets, cleaning of garbage dumps and dustbins, shifting of garbage from Garbage Transfer Stations (GTS) and other important matters and various proposals and demands were presented to make sanitation system in the city effective.ýýSaifuddin Advocate, demanding improvement from the MD SSWMB, said that sanitation situation in Karachi has become extremely bad. Door-to-door garbage collection system is almost non-existent, while streets and neighbourhoods are also not being cleaned regularly. Whatever little cleaning is done, it is mostly limited to main roads. Most garbage dumps and dustbins in the city remain full of garbage and are not emptied in time, causing severe difficulties to citizens, he said.ýýHe said due to non-lifting of garbage from streets, and non-cleaning of garbage dumps and dustbins in time, citizens are dumping large quantity of garbage in drains, due to which drains of Karachi have also been filled with garbage and their flow is being affected. Cleaning situation of drains across the city is also extremely bad.ýýThe opposition leader expressed concern that despite heavy funds being provided to SSWMB, sanitation situation in Karachi was not satisfactory. Referring to tenure of former city nazim Niamatullah Khan, he said at that time sanitation system was under towns and UCs used to supervise it, due to which sanitation matters were run in better manner even with limited resources.ýýHe also complained that some contractors employ very young children or very elderly persons on meagre wages for sanitation work. It is difficult to get required sanitation work from such persons, due to which sanitation system is not running effectively and situation is worsening day by day.ýýSaifuddin Advocate also apprised the MD SSWMB of GTS situation and said that there was no effective arrangement for onward shifting of garbage from garbage transfer stations. Garbage reaching GTS keeps dumping there, due to which large heaps and mountains of garbage have been formed at various GTS.ýýHe also drew attention to SWEEP, saying under this system plan was to install proper machinery at GTS to compost garbage and shift it outside the city, however no practical progress was visible in this regard so far. Due to large quantity of garbage not being shifted to landfill sites from Karachi, garbage problem in the city was becoming more serious.ýýJI town chairmen, expressing concern particularly over deteriorating situation in District East, demanded that regular contractors be appointed for sanitation in District East. They said entire district was facing filth due to temporary arrangements. Contractors working on temporary basis were neither providing required machinery nor deploying proper manpower.ýýIn the meeting, it was demanded that sanitation system be shifted to UC and town level so that effective monitoring and accountability system could be established at local level.ýýThe town chairmen said that under recent amendment in Local Government Act, UCs have been given monitoring role regarding sanitation staff and machinery, therefore formal notification should be issued in this regard and sanitation staff be bound to mark attendance regularly in respective UC and report to UC.ýýThey demanded that SSWMB provide complete details of staff deployed and machinery provided in their areas to UCs and towns. At present, UCs do not even know how many employees are deployed in their areas and how much machinery is available, due to which effective liaison and coordination in sanitation system is not possible.ýýThey said that despite spending large amount of funds by SSWMB, sanitation situation in UCs and towns was extremely bad. They pr oposed that if about Rs10.8 million per month was provided to UCs, UCs working under JI could not only manage better sanitation in their areas but also carry out road construction and repair works with same resources.ýýIn the meeting, proposal was also presented regarding contract system in District East that instead of giving sanitation contract on whole district basis, it should be given on town basis and effective coordination with town administration be made part of system so that identification of sanitation problems at local level and their immediate solution was possible.ýýThe MD SSWMB listened carefully to proposals and demands presented by JI town chairmen and assured of steps to resolve issues. He said that matters would be reviewed separately on town basis and efforts would be made to improve sanitation situation in cooperation with town chairmen.ýýThe MD SSWMB also assured that steps would be taken to keep sanitation staff in effective contact with union committees and improve system o f reporting to respective UCs.