KARACHI: Heated debate on master plan in City Council
By Latif Baloch
KARACHI, Dec 11: Both the treasury and opposition benches stuck to their guns when the City Council resumed on Tuesday its debate on the new master plan and traded allegations with each other.
In the absence of Naib City Nazim Nasreen Jalil, who was on leave, the session was presided over by senior presiding officer Ahsan Ahmed Siddiqui.
At the outset of the proceedings, copies of the document of the master plan, later described by the opposition members as incomplete, were circulated in the house.
Taking the floor, Asif Siddiqui, leader of the Haq Parast panel, said the opposition must behave positively and stop adopting delaying tactics for the passage of the resolution on the new master plan called Karachi Strategic Development Plan 2020 as their basic demand for the presentation of the document copies to all members had been met.
Opposition leaders, including leader of the Awam Dost panel Saeed Ghani and Rafiq Ahmed of the Al-Khidmat panel, reiterated that since the document was very important, they must be allotted enough time to study it and formulate proposals accordingly.
A heated debate took place when the presiding officer sought views of the members on the issue. Opposition members insisted that the session should be adjourned for at least a month or 15 days for this purpose but the treasury benches opposed the suggestion.
Asif Siddiqui argued that there was no justification for a long adjournment and two or three days were enough for studying the document. He suggested Dec 15 as a suitable date for the debate.
He accused the opposition of adopting delaying tactics for the passage of the master plan resolution, saying that the treasury benches enjoying a majority in the house could easily pass the resolution but they wanted to accommodate the opposition’s views.
Responding to the arguments of the Haq Parast panel leader, opposition leader Saeed Ghani said he could not understand why the treasury was trying to pass the resolution in haste and bypassing the opposition.
He maintained that the opposition wanted a unanimous passage of the resolution while the treasury was trying to sabotage its efforts. Mr Ghani suggested that it would be better that they sent a positive message to the people of Karachi regarding development.
Towns ignored
Some opposition members alleged that the master plan was detrimental to the interests of the peripheral towns of Gadap and Keamari, adding that the plan was prepared to usurp the precious land of old residents in the name of development.
They also complained that the plan had ignored the development needs of those towns and it aimed at uprooting the old villages.
Ismail Brohi of Gadap Town and Mubarak Singo of Keamari Town alleged that the plan was a conspiracy to demolish the old villages and deprive residents of their ancestral land, and warned that they would foil such conspiracies against the natives.
Earlier, the opposition leader pointed out various anomalies in the mass transit policy and a dual policy of the KBCA. He also criticized the governor for allowing the renovation work on the heritage building of the NED university without the consent of the department responsible for the protection of the heritage sites.
Ramzan Awan on a point of order criticized the CDGK for blocking funds of opposition UC nazims. He said funds for the treasury benches had been released and development works in their respective areas were in progress.
While the debate was in progress, the presiding officer adjourned the meeting for Saturday (Dec 15) and advised the members to submit their written recommendations for inclusion in the master plan for debate in the house on Friday.
Those who took part in the debate included Syed Absar-ul-Hasan, Abdul Jalil, Arshad, Sheikh Mebub-ur-Rehman, Abdul Razak, Juman Darwan, Ismail Brohi and Shamim Waseih.
Press talk
Later, at a joint press conference, Awam Dost panel leaders Saeed Ghani and Rafiq Ahmed alleged that the resources of the City government were being used by the towns for the projection of candidates belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.
They claimed that since the election process began, billion of rupees had been given to town nazims belonging to the Haq Parast panel and they were openly using the city government’s vehicles by hoisting MQM flags on them.
Besides, they alleged that the town nazims were holding meetings in which MQM candidates were being invited to perform the inauguration of various development projects.
“It is surprising to see that the development works which had been halted earlier are being carried out now to pave the way for the MQM candidates’ victory.
They urged the Election Commission to stop the MQM from “misusing government resources” in the election campaign. They said funds for UC nazims belonging to the opposition had been blocked while billions of rupees had been provided to town nazims for the execution of uplift projects.
In reply to newsmen’s questions, Rafiq Ahmed of the Al-Khidmat panel described the forthcoming election as pre-rigged, alleging that the idea behind that exercise was to help the pro-Musharraf parties win elections.
