KARACHl: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Wednesday that he had released Rs463 million for cleaning stormwater drains and other related expenditures to meet rain emergency requirements.

In a statement issued here from CM House, he said on July 17 Rs200m was released as a special grant-in-aid for critical emergency actions to mitigate monsoon risk under the Solid Waste Emergency & Efficiency Programme throughout Karachi and placed at the disposal of the local government secretary.

Mr Shah said Rs229m more was released on July 2 for cleaning of nullahs and monsoon preparation in different districts of the province.

He added that out of Rs229m, Rs30m had been released to the commissioner of Karachi for the removal of garbage and debris, Rs70m to the commissioner of Hyderabad, Rs20m to the commissioner of Larkana, Rs31m to the commissioner of Mirpurkhas, Rs38m to the commissioner of Shaheed Benazirabad, Rs40m to the commissioner of Sukkur and Rs4m for cleanliness/desilting of Saadi Town (Karachi).

Mr Shah said that Rs90m more was being given to the Karachi commissioner for works related to rain emergency.

The chief minister said that the impression being given by some `responsible` persons that the funds had not been released was totally wrong and unfounded. `We have been investing in the city for rain emergencies, cleaning of na/as and other such works,` he said and added that under World Bank projects these nullahs would be lined, their culverts improved and all choking points and historical bottlenecks would be repaired for smooth flow of rainwater.