Nasir Hussain Shah orders sacking Central, Korangi municipal commissioners

Sindh’s local government minister has ordered the immediate removal of the municipal commissioners of Karachi’s Central and Korangi districts from their posts on account of their failure to resolve public complaints.

Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, who also holds the information portfolio, issued the order to sack them on Wednesday during a meeting that he chaired to review the development projects under way across the city.

Shah also issued a final warning to Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB) Managing Director Asadullah Khan, telling him to ensure immediate resolution of public complaints concerning the services of the water utility.

The minister said that the meeting was convened on the directives of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to ensure that the complaints of the people of Karachi were addressed.

Shah said that the Sindh government will do its best to ensure timely completion of the development projects under way across Karachi. He claimed that only the provincial government has been undertaking development projects in the city.

He ordered the KWSB to stop leakages of water and sewage in the city to protect the road network from getting ruined. He said that the officials of the departments related to public services must convene meetings at district levels to resolve the people’s problems on a priority basis.

Education and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani told the meeting that other political parties have been trying to gain political mileage on the basis of the development works carried out by the provincial government.

He said that some political quarters have been trying to give the impression that the federal government’s Karachi development package is being used to run the affairs of the city. He recalled that the Rs162 billion development package announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan is yet to materialise, and that the Centre has not been providing funds to complete the city’s development projects.

Local leaders of the ruling PPP who attended the meeting expressed their lack of confidence in the functioning of the KWSB, saying that the officials of the water utility do not cooperate with them to help resolve public issues.

The meeting was also attended by PPP Sindh General Secretary Waqar Mehdi, Karachi General Secretary Jawed Nagori, district presidents and general secretaries, Sindh LG Secretary Najam Ahmed Shah, Karachi Administrator Laeeq Ahmed, and administrators and municipal commissioners of all the district municipal corporations.