KARACHI, June 29: City Nazim Niamatullah Khan, fearing bloodshed during the process of the forthcoming local bodies polls, has demanded that the election be conducted under the supervision of the armed forces. Speaking at the Meet The Press programme of the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday, he said he did not see peaceful LB election in Karachi, and in this context, referred to the example of by-election held on May 12 when nine people had been killed.

About the controversy over the presentation of the city government budget, the deliberations were very much in accordance with the constitution. “No one can stop an elected institution from presenting its budget for approval by the respective house.”

He said that before presenting the budget, he had waited for the notification till 2pm on Tuesday, but the same had not been delivered to him by that time, and not even till today.

When his attention was drawn to the occupation of the Mayor’s House, Jinnah Hostel and other institutions and lands, the nazim said it was the provincial government which was handing over possession of these institutions and lands to the Rangers. Even the lands belonging to the city government was being allotted by the Board of Revenue, he wondered and in this regard, he gave the example of the land earmarked for the proposed education city project where lands had been reserved by the CDGK for allotment to educational institutions. While the process was under way, the BoR allotted a certain piece of land to a multinational company which raised a factory on it overnight,” he added.

In reply to a question, he maintained that whenever development work was carried out and new settlements were raised, some parties would suffer as they might lose their properties coming in the relevant alignment.

However, he held out the assurance that the lands coming in the alignment of the education city project would duly be acquired from the concerned owners.

Niamatullah Khan was asked about the proposed Karachi Mass Transit Project for which the CDGK had signed an MoU for operating an elevated train between Sohrab Goth and Tower, he replied that at the moment the project was in the stage of feasibility. He said the train service was expected to be operational in two years.

In the meantime, he said, the city government had introduced 250 jumbo-sized CNG air-conditioned buses in the metropolis and in the next two-three months more such buses would be inducted with a view to ease the pressure of traffic on roads. The nazim also referred to the new flyovers on Sharea Faisal, FTC, University Road and Shahrah-i-Quaideen, besides reconstruction of many major arteries in the city which the city government had inherited in an extremely dilapidated condition.

The city nazim said that it was for the first time in the 57-year history that the stakeholders like KPT, Pakistan Steel and PIA were convinced to contribute to the Tameer-i-Karachi Programme. Their contribution to the Rs29 billion TKP amounted to Rs12 billion, he added.

He regretted that no one appeared to have a sense of ownership of this magapolis whereas in Punjab, the governor and chief minister considered Lahore as their own city and felt elated in contributing to its development. “But in Karachi, the situation is contrary to such a feeling. I can only pray that the people who matter inculcate such a sense of ownership of their own city.”

The city nazim spoke of his vision about Karachi, where he had settled on Aug 28, 1948. The city, despite being the biggest of this country, had remained neglected by the successive governments and suffered a lot.

He said that before he took over as the city nazim, it witnessed a devastating turmoil over a period of 15-20 years, and the ravage included ethnic violence.

The CDGK had inherited roads in a dilapidated condition, school buildings in rundown condition and without washrooms, the number of colleges was not more than 88, the health sector had absolutely been neglected and major hospitals had become centre of politics. There were scores of parks and playgrounds but without any development work. There were 538 katchi abadis as notified till 1985.

He said he wanted to develop the settlements but people did not come forward due to the exorbitant rate of Rs400 per sq yard as was being demanded for allotment. He said he then brought down the rate to the level of 1998, i.e. from Rs25 to Rs200 per sq yard.

Karachi is the biggest industrial city having 60 per cent of the total industrial units in the country. As such, people from the entire country come here in search of employment and business. The nazim was of the view that people coming from interior Sindh and other provinces should not be stopped from coming to the megapolis as they would opt for Karachi due to financial compulsions and their role in the development of the city could not be ignored.

About the standards being maintained by the city government, Mr Khan said the roads were being built in accordance with the international standards and would easily serve over the next 15-20 years in a good condition.

He said the federal government had also initiated three major development projects, Lyari Expressway, Northern Bypass, and K-3 water project.

Referring to the acute water shortage, he said despite being an old problem haunting the city for more than four decades, the problem had not been looked into by successive governments. None of them had taken concrete step to resolve this problem before the city government took the initiative by making headway in the installation of a desalination plant on a BoT basis and a treatment plant to purify sewage for industrial use.

He said that in order to meet the shortage of colleges to resolve the problem of admissions, he had worked out a programme under which 10 new colleges were being established every year.

Referring to achievements of the city government in health sector, he made mention of the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases opened recently, and said that it was being run under the supervision of eminent heart specialists Prof Abdul Samad, Prof Abdul Haque, Prof Hamid Shafquat, Prof Abdul Rashid and others.

He said that at the KIHD, patients would not be asked to pay fees for treatment and those unable to bear the expenses of his treatment would be given free treatment as their bills would be paid from Zakat fund. Angiography, he pointed out, would be conducted for Rs2,000-Rs3,000 only.

The nazim said that a modern diagnostic centre was also being set up near the Aga Khan Hospital where MRI and CT Scan charges would be fixed at 70-80 per cent less than normal charges.

He said that in each town, one model park was being developed. So far, he added, 11 such parks had already been opened to public. Besides, in order to make the city green, plantation work had been carried out along main roads whereas every union council had been allocated funds from the CDGK budget for the purpose. He said that Rs3.5 million had been released in the first year and Rs6.4 million in each following year for development work at grass root level.

Earlier, KPC President Sabihuddin Ghausi and General Secretary Najeeb Ahmed welcomed Niamatullah Khan at the club.