Have requested CM Shah to reopen frozen municipal accounts: Vohra

Karachi Deputy Mayor Dr Arshad Vohra on Thursday said the Sindh chief minister had been requested to reopen access to the municipal accounts frozen – particularly the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s – within two to three days.   

Speaking to the media at the handing over ceremony of fire tenders donated by the Japanese government, Vohra said the request to CM Murad Ali Shah was based on the premise that Diwali, an important festival for the Hindu community, is falling on this coming Sunday and the KMC has to release salaries and pension payments before the weekend. 

“There are 18,000 KMC employees who are waiting for their monthly salaries. If the government does not reconsider its decision, these workers and their families are the ones who will feel the brunt,” said Vohra in his talk with the press after the handover ceremony in which a 40-metre ladder tender and a rescue unit – worth Rs150 million – were added to the KMC Fire Department’s fleet.

In an unusual move and that too without assigning any specific reason, the Sindh government’s finance department ordered banks on Wednesday to freeze all the accounts being maintained by different municipal agencies in the province including that of the KMC and the district municipal corporations in the city.

A circular to this effect was issued by the finance department bearing serial number “FD (RES-III)7 (51)/2016” and dated October, 24 2016.

Vohra told reporters that CM Shah had expressed genuine concern over the matter of salary payments and it was likely that the accounts would be reopened in a couple of days.

The ceremony saw acting Consul General of Japan in Karachi, Yasuharu Shinto, formally hand over the vehicles donated by the Japanese government. Speaking to The News afterwards on the city’s security conditions and the potential for investment, Shinto said since he had been based in Karachi for the past two years and was witness to a much improved security situation. He appreciated the efforts put in by law enforcement agencies and stated that a secure environment would definitely boost chances of increased foreign investments in Karachi.