May 06, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 29, 1429

KARACHI, May 5: The city council in a brief session on Monday approved the final draft budget of the city government after incorporating some proposals moved by councillors amid noisy protests followed by a boycott of the session by the opposition.

The budget document, tabled in the house in the absence of the opposition, shows a surplus of Rs110 million with total expected receipts standing at Rs47.6 billion as against the total expenditure of Rs47.5 billion.

The council session, presided over by Naib Nazim Nasreen Jalil, also adopted a resolution describing the city government as the controlling authority of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and the Karachi Building Control Authority under the Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 2001. The resolution will be forwarded to the city government for final approval.

Earlier, when the house began its proceedings, opposition leader Saeed Ghani stood up on a point of order to remind the convener about his complaint on the construction of a parking plaza at the site of Bagh-i-Jinnah.

Upon this, leader of the house Asif Siddiqui said that the treasury had already made its submissions on the issue before the house and as such a discussion on the issue in the budget session had become irrelevant. He was supported by Haq Parast leaders Abdul Jalil and Arshad Qureshi who argued that under the relevant laws of the SLGO no business other than budget could be discussed during the budget session.

However, Mr Ghani argued with the treasury leaders and alleged that gross violation of budget rules were witnessed during the past three years.

The convener tried to pacify the opposition leader by suggesting that it would be better if he tabled a resolution for debate. Unconvinced, other opposition members also stood up and started raising slogans against the city government. Pandemonium broke out in the house when the members tore up the copies of the draft budget. The convener tried to calm down the opposition members but in vain. The opposition then boycotted the proceedings.

Earlier, Asif Siddiqui had accused the opposition of trying to sabotage the proceedings for ulterior motives under a pre-planned strategy which they had also pursued during the previous sessions.

In the absence of the opposition, the draft budget was tabled in the house for voting which was adopted unanimously.

The session was adjourned by the convener 20 minutes after the proceedings began on Monday to May 8.

Press talk

Addressing a joint press conference after the session, opposition leaders Saeed Ghani and Rafiq Ahmed condemned the attitude of the treasury towards the opposition. They alleged that even the positive suggestions made by the opposition members were ruled out.

Defending the decision of boycotting the session, Mr Ghani pointed out that not a single proposal made by the opposition had been accommodated during the past four budget sessions.

The opposition leaders also accused the treasury of bypassing the rules and regulations while preparing budgets and conducting business of the house. They pointed out that tenders were invited after obtaining the proposals from union councils during the financial year of 2006 and 2007. But no work could be carried out due to mala fide intentions of the city government as dues were not paid to the contractors.

They also maintained that no procedure was followed in the budget allocation of the financial year 2007-8, saying that no report of completion of development projects was ever presented in the house. Besides, no meeting of the district advisory committee comprising all town nazims was ever held to seek their views on uplift projects.

Condemning the vindictive attitude of the city government, they urged the provincial government to take notice of the irregularities being committed by the city government and inquiries should be made into “misuse” of development funds.

They said they had already brought the matter to the notice of the provincial ombudsman and it would be taken up with the local government commission.

Juman Darwan and Ramzan Awan were also present during the press conference.

Later, Asif Siddiqui denied the charges levelled by the opposition. “We always wanted to take the opposition into confidence on important issues and opposed the politics of confrontation,” he added. He stressed the need for conducting the business of house in a smooth way and adopting the reconciliation approach towards solving the city’s problems.