KARACHI, June 19: Fireworks were witnessed in the City Council on Tuesday when opposition members staged a boycott after failing to convince the presiding officer to table a resolution they had submitted earlier regarding Union Council (UC) funds.
Saying that the issue was of utmost importance since the financial year was coming to an end, several UC nazims blamed officials of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) for obstructing the funds for various uplift works. Expressing fears that funds allocated in the 2006-7 budget would lapse, opposition members demanded that the house pass a unanimous resolution requesting City Nazim Mustafa Kamal to issue a notification for the release of these UC funds.
Members of the opposition alleged that UC funds amounting to Rs9.6 million and Rs1.5 million, which had been approved by the city nazim for each UC nazim and city councillor respectively, were being deliberately delayed under the instructions of “higher authorities”.
This, they said, was forcing contractors to cease work on developmental projects undertaken in areas headed by members of the opposition.
Senior presiding officer Masood Mehmood said that the matter would be looked into but rejected the tabling of a resolution.
He tried to pacify the members of the opposition by pointing out that the city nazim had already assured the house that each union council would be issued funds.
Mr Mehmood also offered a meeting with him and other officers after the City Council session, but this was rejected on the grounds that this was the council’s last session before the Budget Session scheduled for June 27.
As the presiding officer ignored the arguments presented by members of the opposition, the latter were forced to boycott the session in protest.
Subsequently, the chairman of the Works and Services Committee, Mehmood Ali Hassan, dismissed the opposition’s allegations, saying that June 22 was the deadline for submitting bills and that Rs170 million has so far been released to the union councils.
The Treasury then passed a resolution related to incorporating receipts of water and sewerage bills, and property tax in documents of transfer of property. Another resolution aimed to approve the Sanction Number of Employees (SNE) in the context of 145 recruitments for a 50-bed hospital in New Karachi Town. The third resolution passed concerned the incorporation of the Department of Parks of the defunct Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) into the CDGK. A fourth resolution addressed the need for a graveyard in any housing scheme spread over 10 acres, while the last resolution demanded that the government of Pakistan and the governor of Sindh make efforts for opening an Indian consulate in Karachi.
At a subsequent press conference, members of the opposition, led by Rafique Ahmed of Al-Khidmat, said that despite numerous assurances, no step had been taken that would provide legal cover to the city nazim’s verbal commitment regarding the release of funds to union councils and city council members. They said that such legal cover, in the form of a circular issued or a resolution passed, was demanded by District Officers (DOs) while approving schemes and releasing funds. They maintained that higher authorities in the CDGK had directed the Works and Services Committee to delay files and the Finance Department to hold back the funds for areas headed by the opposition.
Representatives of the opposition complained that contractors were undertaking projects through unit and sector offices of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and ignoring public representatives who belonged to the opposition. They added that the city nazim was exploiting Lyari politically, since opposition UC nazims have not be provided funds to carry out projects there. Amongst the people making these complaints were opposition union council nazims and council members Rafique Ahmed, Ibrahim Brohi, Ramzan Awan, Zareena Faisal, Ziauddin, Abdul Razak and others from Keamari Town, SITE Town, Jamshed Town, Gadap Town, Orangi Town, Baldia Town and Bin Qasim Town.
