HYDERABAD, March 1: The adviser to the Sindh chief minister on local government and Katchi Abadis, Mr Waseem Akhtar, has said that the Sindh government is making all-out efforts to regularize Katchi Abadis and lease out plots on nominal rates to poor people.

He was briefing journalists on progress made in the regulariztion of Katchi Abadis, at the circuit house here on Tuesday. Director-General of the Sindh Katchi Abadis Authority Nasir Abbas, Director-General of the Hyderabad Development Authority Tahir Ahmed and Mohammad Hussain Syed were present on the occasion.

The adviser said that priority was being given to construction of roads, water supply schemes and health and education facilities in the Katchi Abadis. He said that the concept of "Sasti Basti" (low-cost development housing scheme) had been introduced to provide houses to people with low income.

He added the task had been entrusted to the authority and so far six locations had been identified in this regard. Mr Akhtar said that first scheme of "Sasti Basti" would be launched in Kotri where 413 plots measuring 80 square yards were planned. Giving details about the Katchi Abadis, Mr Abbas said that there were 1,293 of them in Sindh as brought on record on the cut off date i.e. March 23, 1985. He said that out of them, 932 had been notified and 1,157 could be regularized.

About Hyderabad region (Hyderabad, Dadu, Badin, Thatta), he said that 331 Katchi Abadis had been identified on the cut off date, out of which 270 had been notified. He said that regularization work of 194 Katchi Abadis had been taken up by the authority and the defunct local councils as a result a large number of dwellers had been given proprietary rights.

To accelerate the pace of regulariztion, speedy lease granting campaign had been launched in Hyderabad city on the pattern of Karachi and regularisation work had been taken up in the Khwaja Gharib Nawaz and Chishtia colonies, he said.

Answering questions, the adviser said that the remaining amount of the Sindh governor's package of Rs500 million would be released by June to ensure the completion of the development schemes.

He expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of the three taluka municipal officers of Hyderabad city regarding disposal of garbage. He also expressed dissatisfaction over the pace of recovery of water tax by the Water and Sanitation Agency and said that he had given three months to the commercial managers of Wasa to improve the recovery position, failing which they would be replaced.

The adviser said that the pace of development work was also slow and added that after the governor's package, the Hyderabad development package was also to be implemented. He made it clear that incompetent officers would not be tolerated and added that 500 inquiries were under process in this regard.

About the appointment of administrators in local bodies before their elections, he said that a proposal had been mooted in this regard and the final decision would be taken by the president.

He conceded that there was no provision of the administrators in the Sindh Local Government Ordinance but added: "There is not other way to stop malpractice of the nazims at the end of their tenure."

TSUNAMI VICTIMS: Students of the local Beacon House schools and St. Bonaventure's High School have collected a sizeable amount for tsunami victims. According to reports, the Beacon House students have collected $500 in cash and relief goods worth Rs150,000, which have been handed over to the consul general of Indonesia.