PA opposition raises concern over increasein charged parking

Opposition legislators in the provincial assembly on Monday expressed concerns over the rising instances of levying of parking fee and encroachments on amenity and public spaces in Karachi.

The concerns were raised during the question hour and the calling attention notices in the session of the Sindh Assembly pertaining to the local government department. The opposition also expressed concerns over the reported instances of the use of parking spaces of the Karachi Development Authority in Clifton for running eateries.

Grand Democratic Alliance MPA Arif Mustafa Jatoi raised the question concerning the availability of a master plan for the city in view of such unauthorised use of public and amenity spaces. He said that up to Rs100 was being charged for the parking of motor vehicles at different spots of the city, adding that up to Rs50 per vehicle was paid to the police as their share in this unauthorised collection of money.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker Rabia Azfar expressed concern over the rising instances of encroachments in the city, saying that even the cantonment areas were not spared of this issue.

Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani said that in the past the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and the district municipal corporations had issued permissions for using parking lots in different areas of the city for running restaurants.

He said that all such permissions had been cancelled later in view of the orders of the Supreme Court, adding that in this connection, an anti-encroachment drive had been conducted at a number of spaces in the city to keep them free of similar illegal activities.

Responding to the queries of the legislators, the minister admitted that not all areas of the city were being provided water through the pumping stations of the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board. He said that more pumping stations would be set up to overcome the water shortage in several parts of the city.

Ghani said the Sindh Local Government Act 2013 was unique in the sense that it envisaged LG elections in the province for the first time on the basis of political parties. He said the LG Act also envisaged election up to the level of the UC chairman through direct voting by the public.

He said that more powers had been transferred to the municipal agencies of Sindh as compared to the previous LG systems, which remained imposed in the province. He informed the MPAs that up to 46,129 plots had been allotted to the public through balloting in the Scheme 42 of the Lyari Development Authority since 1984.