KARACHI: City budget made surplus through amendment
KARACHI, July 30: The city council on Wednesday adopted the final amendment to the city government’s budget through a resolution which stated that the increase in development budget for women councillors would be reversed but the amount would be allocated from the Nazim’s discretionary funds.
The development funds for women councillors had been increased to Rs88.5 million from Rs29.5 million proposed initially.
The resolution was moved by Shagufta Jahanzaib, Rehana Akhund, Shahnaz Akhtar, Shazia Bokhari, Najma Minai, Yaseen Nagori and Nawaz Lolakh.
The amendment has been made to make the budget surplus, which had become deficit after cut motions of massive amounts were approved by the council. According to the Local Government Ordinance, 2001, no local government can approve a deficit budget.
The original budget was of Rs27.582 billion with revenue of Rs27.70 billion, making it surplus by Rs121.75 million.
The members condemned the behaviour of city government officials with the elected representatives and demanded removal of obstructions in the union councils’ affairs.
The session, presided over by Naib Nazim Tariq Hasan, stressed the need for a relief package for the people affected by the torrential rain after putting aside the agenda.
The session had been called to discuss uniform lease rates for the slum areas, exemption of journalists from charged parking, approval of a procedure for promotion of accounts supervisors, reports of the city government’s environmental and fisheries and agricultural committees and other matters.
A councillor criticized the attitude of the city government officials for hindering development projects and alleged that union council Nazims were maltreated by them.
The members expressed their concern over the delay in release of honorarium to them and said it was being paid to the UC Nazims in other parts of the country.
They referred to the resolution passed by the council in its last session and demanded immediate issuance of notification in this regard.
A member warned that the councillors would not participate in the proceedings until steps were taken in this connection.
The Naib Nazim assured the members that the modalities had been finalized and a notification in this regard would be issued soon.
The members expressed satisfaction over the performance of the local governments in dealing with the situation caused by heavy downpour and termed the statements of some elements against the handling of the affairs in the rainy season by local bodies representatives baseless.
A councillor praised Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali for announcing a relief package for the city and emphasized fair utilization of the funds.
A member drew the council’s attention towards the inefficiency of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board in dealing with the situation.—PPI
