HYDERABAD: Pandemonium in dist council session: Chambar cattle market dispute
By Our Correspondent
HYDERABAD, Jan 29: The Hyderabad district council here on Tuesday witnessed one of the worst pandemonium of its history as independent and PPP-backed members came almost close to trading punches on the controversy over the rights of a make-shift cattle bazaar in Chambar.
The uproar began after the leader of the independent group, Dr Irfan Gul Magsi, raised objections over distribution of text of a resolution against him without prior permission of the convener and accused his rivals of having embezzled Rs50 million over the last 30 years.
Convener Nawab Rashid Ali Khan, who appeared helpless before the aggressive members, had to suspend the proceedings for more than 20 minutes to restore order in the council hall. The atmosphere of the session remained too charged till it was over.
Lala Zahid Pathan of Tando Allahyar taluka distributed his statement-cum-resolution among the members without prior permission of the convener and started reading it.
Mr Magsi interrupted him by inviting the attention of the convener towards the fact that resolution was not included in the agenda.
Members from both the independent group and rivals surrounded the convenor, forcing him to retire to his chamber by suspending the proceedings.
The house again met after 20 minutes and with the permission of the convener, the resolution was presented by Mr Pathan for debate.
The resolution demanded disqualification of Dr Irfan Gul Magsi, the Nazim UC-1, Chambar, for allegedly violating provisions of Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO) 2001 and directives of the Sindh governor about the transfer of assets and record of his UC to taluka Tando Allahyar taluka council.
Mr Pathan charged that Nazim and Naib Nazim of UC-1, Chambar, were involved in misappropriation of funds generated through the cattle bazaar. He said that the funds should be deposited in the account of Tando Allahyar taluka council like other parts of Sindh.
He argued that the municipal and town committees had been merged into taluka council with their liabilities and assets according to sections 123, 180 and 185 of the SLGO.
Some members endorsed the resolution while Apa Badr-un-Nisa Qazi objected to the wording of the resolution.
Rana Mahmood said that he neither supported nor opposed the resolution adding that the issue was said to be pending before the court.
He proposed that initially status quo should be maintained in the matter and funds collected from the cattle bazaar should be deposited in a separate account. Then the matter should be refereed to district or provincial government for its solution.
Responding to the charges, Mr Magsi said that the cattle bazaar used to make a peanut contribution of Rs2000 per month to government treasury but due to his efforts the contract of the bazaar was auctioned for Rs14.1 million and the amount went to the government treasury.
“Those who are busy hurling abuses and levelling allegations against me had gobbled up Rs500 million,” he alleged and added that when he called for the accounts of this huge amount, these people began talking about handing over the bazaar to the taluka.
Complaining of victimization, he said that even his office was occupied by the Nazim of another UC.
He said that according to recovery schedule-2 of the SLGO, his UC was competent to make recovery from the cattle bazaar.
He apprehended that if the bazaar was handed over to the taluka council, the old mafia would maintain its control over its monetary resources and would fill their coffers.
Dr Magsi asked the convener to ensure that another cattle bazaar organized in the area of the district council Nazim, Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman, should also be auctioned.
He said that he would like to submit the documents of the case because the matter was subjudice.
“Have we made any legislation so far after being elected? What have we done for the people’s welfare?”, Dr Najib Memon asked.
The convener said that the council would sort out this issue in the light of court papers on Wednesday and added that if there was a stay in the matter, the matter would not be discussed.
Hussain Bux Hussaini read a resolution, calling for the removal of technical faults from the crystal meters and withdrawal of the exaggerated/ inflated power bills. He said that Hesco officials involved in power theft should be held accountable.
Dr Ayaz Arain demanded an end to load-shedding in the city.
Saira Naseer stood-up on a point of order, drawing the attention of council towards an ugly incident in which Babu Ramzan Arain misbehaved with her. She walked out of the session when it did not take any notice of it.
Rana Mehmood opined that practically this system had failed adding, “the members were not even informed about the agenda of the session today.”
The district council passed a resolution, demanding transfer of Mukhtiarkar of Hyderabad Taluka, Agha Fakhar, for showing disrespect to a council member, Khadim Hussain Jahejo.
The convener banned the use of mobile phones during the session.
The session which started 45 minutes late was adjourned till Wednesday when the council would take up for debate four resolutions pertaining to complaints against Hesco authorities regarding inflated bills and installation of crystal meters.
