Sea View to remain open for public on the New Year night

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed divisional administration and the police to keep the sea view area accessible for the public on the New Year night so that the visitors could enjoy with any hassle, ordering the authorities to take strict action against those carrying weapons or using narcotics and harassing the visitors.

He issued these directives while presiding over a meeting to review security arrangements made for New Year night here in Karachi at the Chief Minister House on Sunday evening.

Home Secretary Kazi Kabir, principal secretary to the CM Sajid Jamal Abro, Commissioner Karachi Iftikhar Shahalwani, Additional IG Special Branch and Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Dr Waliullah Dal, DIGs of districts South, East and West and the SSP South.

The officials informed the chief minister that roads leading to Sea View were being closed by placing containers and that strict checking would be carried on streets throughout the city.

The chief minister, displeased with the steps, said that the people of the city had every right to enjoy the New Year night but in a decent and cultured way.

Sea View area will be open for the public and 2 specific routes have been designated for the public to reach sea view. Fireworks have also been arranged for the people near Do Darya area.

— Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui (@murtazawahab1) December 31, 2018

He directed the commissioner Karachi and DIG South to not close roads, and the let the people go wherever they wanted to. “But I would suggest you make strict security arrangements so that nobody could create problems for other visitors, carry weapons, use narcotics, resort to one wheeling or ride motorcycles without a silencer,” he said.

He directed the authorities to arrest any person found involved in the activities mentioned above. “This is our city, and we all have a responsibility to make it peaceful. We have to demonstrate with our actions that we are educated, cultured and caring people,” he said.

Mr Shah also directed the administration to designate alternate routes towards the Sea View to prevent traffic bottlenecks at Do-Talwar and Teen-Talwar areas but added that this wasn’t meant to create uneasiness for the public.

He also ordered the commissioner and the police that alternate routes towards Sea View be designated in a way that the people living in Clifton and Sea View areas may not face inconvenience.

It was pointed out in the meeting that some street lights in Defense Housing Authority (DHA) and Clifton areas were out of order. On this, the chief minister directed the commissioner to talk to the DHA officials to fix the out of order lights located in their areas, issuing similar instructions to the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) and other concerned authorities for areas under their jurisdiction.

He also directed the commissioner to conduct an inspection of CCTV cameras in DHA and Clifton area and get out of order ones repaired.

The Traffic police were also directed to envisage an efficient traffic management plan to prevent the clogging of major arteries and streets of the city.

The chief minister said that he would be reviewing overall law and order in the city every Monday so that the city’s peace could be maintained.

Separately, a notification issued by the Sindh Government notified that pillion riding in Karachi has been banned for two days under the section-144 to ensure the law and order. It was also notified that aerial firing, firecrackers, and exhibiting the weapons will be banned to prevent any untoward situation.