Opposition rejects budget as ‘confusing puzzle of digits’

The opposition leader in the City Council, along with representatives of opposition parties, categorically rejected the budget tabled in the City Council on Monday.

The Jamat-e-Islami’s (JI) Saifuddin Advocate addressed a press conference at the City Council to denounce the budget. He was accompanied by the PTI’s parliamentary leader in the City Council Mubashirul Haq, the JI’s Junaid Mukati, Jawad Shoaib and others. He dubbed the mayor as “the worst failure” in the history of Karachi mayors.

Despite the fact that the mayorship is subjected to the decision by the judiciary, the opposition parties are willing to engage in talks for the sake of Karachi, but the “self-imposed mayor” bulldozes the proceedings of the council, he said, adding that the PPP uses the mayor as a puppet.

Saifuddin said the mayor acts like an authoritative administrator as he couldn’t come out of the previous mindset. He added that the mayor has left the opposition with no option but to protest.

He highlighted that there is no new development scheme in the budget for Karachi. He said the mayor had announced in the council that the Municipal Utility Charges Tax (MUCT) would generate Rs4 billion, but only Rs2 billion were mentioned in the budget in this regard.

It is claimed that the budget is tax-free, an if this is the case then who has included MUCT and toll tax in it, he asked. Saifuddin further said a few baseless allegations were levelled against him and he wanted to clear the situation on the point of order but he was denied his privilege. He said the opposition wants model parks in each town, green belts, ands facilities in the KMC run hospitals, but the flawed budget is nothing but a confusing puzzle of digits.