Days after Shaniera Akram took to Twitter to bring attention to the wretched condition of the Clifton Beach in Karachi, authorities have risen to the occasion, starting a cleanup drive to rid the beach of toxic waste.
Head of the Akram Foundation, Shaniera rallied for a shutdown of the beach after she encountered used syringes, vials full of blood samples, and other bio-hazardous waste at the Clifton Beach. She said that she’s a regular visitor of the strip of beach known as Sea View, and the condition was alarming. Kilometers of toxic waste had been dumped at the coastline, stretching from Chunky Monkey all the way to the Salt’n Pepper Village Restaurant.
There is kilometres of medical waste including hundreds of open needle syringes amongst other things, that has come in from the ocean. Clifton beach, at this moment, is extremely dangerous and needs to be shut down #CliftonBeach #MedicalWaste #BeachShutDown #ImSoSorryKarachi pic.twitter.com/VEDZUdauNe
— Shaniera Akram (@iamShaniera) September 3, 2019
Read more: Clifton Beach teeming with biohazardous waste, Shaniera Akram shares chilling video
Declaring an unofficial emergency situation at the beach, she shared images and videos from the beach, alerting the public to avoid the coast and not try to clean it up themselves. She also urged relevant authorities to step up and clean the garbage as soon as possible, and the beach is in fact being cleaned up on urgent basis. Senior officials from the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC), DHA and the Sindh Police rushed to the beach in an effort to rid it of the hazardous waste.
I would like to thank the @sindhpolicedmc the CBC and DHA for reacting so swiftly to the concern of our beach. We know that this medical waste problem is a sign of much deeper city problems but we hope that the current level of care you are showing our beach is now an ongoing one
— Shaniera Akram (@iamShaniera) September 4, 2019
However, that’s clearly not enough, and Shaniera is rallying for the authorities to make sure that the message is spread to the public, and the beach is shut down for an indefinite amount of time; or at least till the situation is completely under control and they’re sure that it’s completely clean.
We had a wake up call yesterday and it is time all the appropriate authorities and concerned heads of this city come together as one to work out what our next call to action is. There is no time to waste calling jurisdiction, we need to act, peoples lives are at risk
— Shaniera Akram (@iamShaniera) September 4, 2019
CBC and DHA have been working hard cleaning the medical waste from the beach but I am warning the people of Karachi, DO NOT use the beach until we have identified the source & say it is completely safe. Extremely dangerous Medical waste is still currently coming in from the ocean
— Shaniera Akram (@iamShaniera) September 5, 2019
It is imperative that Karachi Authorities issue a state wide Public Service message TODAY to the people of Karachi not to use the beach until we know it is completely safe. Medical waste is still washing up on our shore despite the continuing and appreciated efforts of CBC & DHA
— Shaniera Akram (@iamShaniera) September 5, 2019
Here’s hoping that her tweets are taken seriously once again and the cleanup proves to be a successful one for the long term.
