Karachi Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has said the Sindh government is yet to devolve the administrative and financial powers to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) as the recent budgetary affairs of the KMC also proved how powerless it was.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Rehman said the Karachi mayoral election had taken place on June 15 while the annual budget of the KMC for the new fiscal year 2023-24 was presented on June 17 that carried the signature of the former city administrator in the backdate. “Such an act is simply unacceptable to us,” he said.
He alleged that corrupt practices had been taking place on a large scale during this transition period of the local governments in the province.
The JI leader demanded that a session of the KMC City Council be immediately convened to provide an opportunity to the elected local government representatives of Karachi to duly discuss and pass the KMC’s new budget.
He reiterated his party’s demand that newly elected chairmen of municipal towns in Karachi be given due financial and administrative powers required for resolving the civic problems of the people in their respective jurisdictions.
He said the town chairmen in Karachi were yet to be allotted offices and official vehicles to let them perform their functions with ease.
He said the motor vehicles that should have been given to the elected local government representatives in the city were still being illegally used by government officials.
The JI leader alleged that staff members of the KMC were being replaced by newly recruited staffers belonging to outside Karachi.
“Not a single conscientious person is available in the Sindh government who could dare to speak on the rights of the Karachiites,” said the JI leader.
He alleged that the Sindh government under its typical feudal mindset was not willing to devolve powers to the local governments.
Rehman said the Sindh government’s move to constitute the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board was undue in the presence of a functional municipal system in the province.
He said Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab due to his association with the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party should ensure that the city’s local government representatives became fully empowered.
He added that mere granting of the status of the corporation to the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board, as recently done by the Sindh government, would provide no solution to the longstanding civic problems of Karachi.
He lamented the situation that the residents of Karachi were deprived of potable water and they had to rely on the expensive water tanker service.
He demanded that Karachi get its due share in the fiscal resources of the province as per the Provincial Finance Award and motor vehicle taxes collected from the city.
He told journalists that the local government leadership in Karachi belonging to the JI had the utmost resolve to serve the people in their respective jurisdiction in the best possible manner as they would forcefully resist if any attempt was made to obstruct their work.
He said the JI’s newly elected town and union committee chairmen in the city on a self-help basis had ensured sanitation in their respective areas during Eidul Azha.
He informed the journalists that the JI would continue with the lawful struggle for devolution of the due administrative and financial powers to the local governments in the province as per the constitution. He said the JI would not let the ruling PPP unduly usurp the resources of Karachi.
He alleged that there had been widespread corruption in affairs related to the de-silting of storm water drains in Karachi and controlling building affairs in the city.