KARACHI: Notification on KBCA’s devolution withdrawn: Nazim protests decision
KARACHI, Oct 14: Chief secretary K.B. Rind has directed the secretary of housing and town planning department to withdraw all notifications/correspondence initiated by him, as they have been considered to be premature and not in line with the directives of the governor of Sindh.
This order of the chief secretary also applies to the notification issued earlier, devolving the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) to the city district government.
Provincial secretary (services) Ghulam Sarwar Kherro, in a letter to the housing and town planning secretary, stated that it had been brought to the notice of the S&GAD/chief secretary that some notifications had been initiated, being not in consonance with the approvals of the governor, dated Oct 8, regarding the KBCA.
The statement added that the chief secretary has directed withdrawal of all such notifications.
CITY GOVT: Nazim Karachi Naimatullah Khan has said that the city government will take the matter of withdrawal of the notification regarding devolution of the KBCA, to the competent authority.
According to sources, the Nazim has written a letter on Monday evening for the chief secretary which will be dispatched to him on Tuesday. In the letter, Mr Khan has complained that he was kept in the dark before the issuance of the notification and on its withdrawal within a week.
It is interesting to note that the committee which had been formed to look into the matter of the KBCA’s devolution did not have any representative from the city government, while no prior information was given to it before the issuance of the notification on Oct 9 by the secretary of the housing and town planning.
According to the letter by the City Nazim, the KBCA had been entrusted with important responsibilities, including the issue of regularisation of buildings, but such a situation will create confusion among all the concerned in the city.
In a press release, the KBCA Chief Controller of Buildings Brig A.S. Nasir (retired) assured the city government of all possible support at all levels.
An official of the KBCA has described the devolution notification as an incomplete document in which the powers and functions of officers and staff posted in the towns have not clearly been defined.
There are discrepancies regarding financial resources and distribution of assets of the authority in the towns, the official added.
Similarly, the officials of four departments of the defunct KDA, which are now part of the city government, have expressed apprehension regarding the status of their salaries in future as their net salaries are being paid by the KBCA.
These departments are: design bureau and master plan (now in the master planning department of the city government) and the traffic engineering bureau and the KMTP (both part of transport and communication department).
Though, devolution of the KBCA has been a longstanding demand of the city government, they are still undecided whether it would be part of the master planning department, the works and services or any other department.
A senior leader of the City Council, Siddique Rathore, has criticized the decision of the Sindh government and described it as a move by the builders to make the KBCA an independent department, aloof from the elected representatives of the people.
He blamed the authority for being part of the builder mafia who are making the city a “jungle of concrete”.—APP/PPI
