KARACHI, March 5: The City Council on the second day of its session on Tuesday formed a 10-member committee to sort out the differences that had cropped up among its members over the approval of the revised budget of the different departments of the Karachi City District Government.

The committee formed by the Council’s Convener, Tariq Hasan, through balloting, has been asked to submit its report to the house at its next meeting scheduled to be held on March 18.

The members of the committee include the Council’s finance committee chairman, Nazeer Sajid, legal aid committee’s chairman, Younus Mohan Khan, and members of the house, Siddiq Rathore, Engineer Abdul Aziz, Najmi Alam, Malik Mohammed Taj, Abdul Rasheed Baig, Ms Shama Mithani, Ms Muneera Jamal and Sharif Awan.

The Naib Nazim, Tariq Hasan, has asked the city government’s executive district officer (finance) to assist the committee in its work relating to the first excess and surrender budget of the city government’s different departments.

Before the formation of the committee unruly scenes similar to those witnessed during Monday’s session were repeated again and at one stage the convener of the house had to postpone the proceedings for 15 minutes.

When the house met again after 15 minute, the convener proposed that a 10- member committee, comprising members of different groups of the house, be set up to sort out the issue.

However, the Liaquatabad’s UC-5 Nazim and a member of the house, Siddiq Rathore, insisted that his resolution whereby he had demanded that over Rs670 million, that had been shown as excess in the 2001-2002 budget, be equally distributed among the union councils for undertaking development works such as provision of street-lights, repair of roads, etc, and it be approved by the house in the interest of the people.

Endorsing the resolution, other members of the house, including Taazeem Ahmed Siddiqui, Mehfooz-un-Nabi Khan, Akhlaq-un-Nabi and Babu Ghulam Husain Turk, also urged the house to approve the resolution as this would enable the union councils to carry out development works.

Later, the convener of the house, through a voting, formed the 10-member house committee.

The house will now meet on Wednesday to dispose of some other agenda of the Council.

The KWSB managing director, Brig Mohammed Behram, has been invited to the house on Wednesday to reply to queries of members on the city’s water and sewerage problems.

The current session of the Council has been discussing a Rs549 million budgets of the city government’s medical and other new departments which became part of it following the introduction of the new local government system.

The Rs549 million first excess and surrender budget 2001-2002 of the defunct KMC’s was presented in the City Council’s Monday session. It has been prepared by the city government’s finance and planning department to meet the financial needs of its medical and other new departments for the period from January 2002 to June 30, 2002.