Karachi: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said the heatstroke deaths in Karachi were “the most unprecedented in the history of Pakistan” and all those who were responsible for the shoddy response must be held accountable.
Sharif came from Islamabad for a one-day visit to hold meetings with provincial authorities to review the heatwave in the city that caused widespread deaths and the electricity crisis.
The provincial authorities told the prime minister that more than 65,000 patients were brought to hospitals during the heatwave that lasted for about a week.
Over 1,250 people died of heatstroke.
A statement issued by the prime minister’s secretariat said that Sharif expressed deep grief and sorrow over the deaths of the people due to heatstroke.
“The whole country sympathises with the affected people in this hour of grief,” the prime minister was quoted as saying.
Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, later on in a one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Sharif complained about the bad performance of K-Electric, the power utility that monopolises electricity distribution in Karachi.
The prime minister, while discussing the issue with Sindh chief minister Qaim Ali Shah, said that “all the departments that shirked their responsibilities, adding to public misery, should be held accountable in a transparent manner.”
The meetings also discussed the long pending and pressing issue of a mega water project for Karachi, which remained suspended because of bureaucratic and political hurdles. The Prime Minister advised the provincial government to complete the K-4 water project within two years.
He further assured to the provincial government that the federal government would provide Rs10 billion (Dh360 million) immediately for the water and other development projects in Karachi.
The first phase of K-4 water project would supply 260 million gallons per day (MGD) to Karachi whereas the following two phase would add up a total of 560 mgd capacity to existing water supply capacity.
Chief minister Shah, after the prime minister’s departure, told journalists that the prime minister appreciated the provincial government for its handling of the heatwave crisis.
The meetings were attended by Sindh governor Dr Eshratul Ibad Khan, Interior Minister Chaudry Nisar Ali Khan, Minister of Climate Change, Mushahiddullah Khan, Minister for Information Pervez Rasheed and other members of the federal cabinet.
