All cheques will have signatures of both Deputy Mayor Vohra and Metropolitan Commissioner Mendro
A joint account of Karachi Deputy Mayor Dr Arshad Abdullah Vohra and Metropolitan Commissioner Badar Jameel Mendro will be opened for all financial transactions of the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC).
This was disclosed to The News by Local Government Secretary Baqaullah Unnar at the Sindh Assembly on Friday. All cheques for funds had to have joint signatures, and for any funds a request had to be sent to the Sindh government, he said.
Unnar said both these persons would send a joint request to him for funds, and that request would be forwarded to the chief secretary. He noted that currently, the finance department was with the chief minister.
The chief secretary would send a summary for funds Minister for Local Government Jam Khan Shoro for approval, and if the minister deemed it fit, the summary would be sent to the chief minister.
Unnar said the summary after approval by the CM would be sent back to him and he being the competent authority would sign it.
When asked if the deputy mayor asked for Rs12 billion for development projects in Karachi, he said the same procedure had to be followed.
Syed Mustafa Kamal, as city nazim, had huge funds and out of which, he said, he had spent three billion rupees on the development of Karachi.
Former president Pervez Musharraf provided huge funds for Karachi and Kamal was not required to take approval from the chief minister as funds came directly from the federal government, but things would be very tough for incarcerated mayor Waseem Akhtar or his deputy. Now the KMC, KDA, KWSB and Sindh Building Control Authority are under the provincial government, and the minister for local governments is the chairman of all these civic agencies. The mayor has got no control over them.
Former minister for local government Agha Siraj Durrani said Mustafa Kamal had been given a free hand, but now the mayor would not enjoy such powers under the amended law.
A political observer said that “money makes the mayor go” and the mayor had to request to the government or the chief minister for funds.
Waseem Akhtar is the 23rd elected mayor of Karachi. Before he was arrested over various charges, he had said in reply to a query that “we know [that we will have financial powers], but we will get funds through the power of the masses”.
“We would still work for Karachi though we are aware of the fact that funds for Karachi will not be available.”
Deputy Mayor Vohra, talking to The News at his office on Friday, said the city council session would be just an introductory session and a strategy would be decided later. He said garbage lifting was a major issue of the city. He said he had already asked for funds for the development of the city.
The KDA, which has been restored after 15 years, is in a state of conflict with the KMC. The two agencies have to decide the issue of liabilities due to which the KMC and KDA staffers are at loggerheads and arguments take place daily.
The KDA had directed that the KMC offices be vacated from Civic Center by September 22, but the offices are still there.
The KDA is struggling for funds as its spokesman said they were trying to introduce low-cost housing schemes, but they had to funds to start any such scheme.