‘Local bodies system will continue to be ineffective until it gets powers’

The prevalent local bodies system will continue to be ineffective until it gets powers at the grass-roots level, said Mayor Wasim Akhtar on Thursday, while calling for LG representatives to join hands in order to make the system effective in the province.

Speaking to a delegation of district and taluka chairmen, union council nazims and councillors from various cities including, Jamshoro, Hyderabad, Ghotki and Matiyari, Mayor Akhtar said that he and his party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, have filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking more powers for local bodies under the Constitution.

According to the mayor, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has to rely on grants from the provincial government whereas its own resources have been limited as per Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 2013.

He informed the visiting delegates that the Sindh government has withheld Rs40 billion from KMC’s Octroi Zilla Tax share for the last eight years. “This is a great injustice to the city,” he said.

KMC Metropolitan Commissioner Dr Syed Saifur Rehman, Senior Director Coordination Masood Alam, Director Council Ghufran Ahmed, Director Technical to Mayor S M Shakaib and others were present in the meeting.

Akhtar said that KMC only has control over 33 per cent of land in Karachi, while 17 other organisations control the remaining area, which causes difficulty in coming up with solutions for people’s problems. Local government representatives should join hands with us to make the local government system more effective and operational in the province, he added.

Plantation drive

Separately, the mayor planted Kigelia trees at the Frere Hall Gardens on Thursday while taking part in a plantation drive organised by the NGO Shehri.

Parks and Horticulture Committee Chairman Khurram Farhan, Shehri member Aamra Javed, Vice-Chairman Saeer Hameed, Executive Board Member Danish Zoobi and other KMC officers were also present at the occasion.

Akhtar said that the saplings will provide some much needed shade after blooming into full trees. “We need to plant as many trees in the city as we can because in order to save the environment from pollution and improve weather conditions, we need more trees,” he added. The mayor thanked the representatives of Shehri for carrying out the plantation campaign and added that suggestions and proposals to his administration in this regard were welcome.