CM blames ex-mayor Mustafa Kamal for KMC, KWSB’s dire straits

Shah denies snatching powers of Karachi mayor,

chairmen; says development visible in city

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has blamed former Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal for the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board’s financial straits, saying the latter had hired unnecessary staffers for the two organisations.

“Now you are crying for powers. But when you had powers as mayor, you had stuffed the KWSB and KMC with unnecessary staff and today both the organisations have been crippled under the burden of a ballooning payroll,” he said in his speech at a seminar, titled ‘The Role of Youth in National Integration and Regional connectivity’, organised at the University of Karachi, on Saturday.

The chief minister said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had no track record of removing people from jobs; otherwise, both the organisations had upset their entire budgets. Instead of focusing on the development of the city and upgradation of their systems, both KWSB and KMC were running from pillar to post to meet their payrolls, he added.

Responding to the issue raised at the seminar by Dr Farooq Sattar and Mustafa Kamal about the powers of local bodies, the chief minister said he was giving Rs50 million to the MKC every month, apart from its share in the Octroi and Zila Tax, and his government was also paying electricity bills of the KWSB for a smooth supply of water to citizens.

Disagreeing with “some people at the stage” [Sattar and Kamal], he said growth was very much visible in the city. “In the first phase, we fought out terrorists, mafias and outlaws and restored peace in the city and now we are focusing on the development and within the next few days the face of Karachi would be different and developed,” he said and added that he was reconstructing Tariq Road after 40 years.

Shah said he had constituted the Provincial Finance Commission and it had started working and would strengthen the local government system.

“I am not eroding the authority and powers of mayor or chairmen, but I am trying to strengthen them by giving them administrative and financial support. “Almost every day I am visiting the ongoing development schemes in the city only just to complete them in time,” he said.

Shah said development schemes of Rs10 billion were in progress in the city. World Bank-assisted schemes of another Rs10 billion were about to be started and from the next financial year, another Rs10 billion were being earmarked for the development of Karachi. 

“This would be around Rs30 billion development works to be done within one and half years,” he said and assured the people of Karachi his objective was to service them because he had the ability and felt the pain for the development of each and every person and the city.

Shah said the “future of this country lies in our youth”; therefore, they must understand national politics, fruits of development and the importance of education and the economy.

The chief minister said the youth were the lifeline of the country, they were the future of the nation; therefore, their education and understanding of national politics, democracy and economy must be comprehensive. 

“Some people believe that the politics is a dirty business but I would say those who have the ability and sense to serve the people should join politics,” he said and added that he had been doing different jobs as an engineer and a banker but the satisfaction he had attained as a politician had not been felt by him in other services and jobs. “This may be the result of service to the poor people of this province,” he said.

Replying to a question from a student, he said that the condition of graduation for a member of parliament was imposed by a dictator; otherwise, academic education had nothing to do with politics. He was of the view that knowledge, experience, ability and instinct to serve the people and protect their legitimate rights were quite enough for a person to become a member of parliament. 

Earlier, Balochistan Home Minister Sarfraz Bhugti, who also attended the seminar, said the CPEC project as well as establishing peace in the province was the biggest challenge he had faced. 

He said that due to tireless efforts of law enforcement agencies, the province was in a much better position and peace had been maintained there.

“The extremists’ elements are going to be completely uprooted and we are fighting against the war on terror for the safe and secure future of our generations. The CPEC is our future and we will not allow anyone to interfere in it.”

The Balochistan home minister mentioned that both provincial and federal governments had opened the doors for the “lost people” who had earlier been involved in anti-state activities but they were now withdrawing from such activities.

The Balochistan Assembly’s speaker, Raheela Durrani, observed that human resource always played a vital role in a country’s growth. She said questions related to the CPEC could be raised but hurdles should not be created to sabotage the project.

PPP leader Shazia Marri said sexual harassment cases were on the rise andm probably due to weakness in the relevant laws, governments had failed to protect women.

“The parliamentarians who were uneducated had done a wonderful job in the provincial assembly, which is still on record,” he said and lamented that the graduate assembly [of Pervez Musharraf] had completely failed to protect the constitution, democracy and national interests.

Shah said he [Musharraf] had devolved the functions of the provincial governments to the local bodies under a conspiracy. He wanted to make the provincial governments weak so that they could not challenge his authority; otherwise, it was an unreasonable system which destroyed the entire structure and eroded the government authority.

He also said that when school education was under the district government there were over 8,000 closed schools. “I have recently reopened 1,461 schools and have set a target of opening 2,000 more schools by the end of March,” he said and added that instead of instigating others for powers they should be advised to serve the people without wasting their time.