June 27, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 22, 1429

KARACHI, June 26: The City Council on Thursday urged the federal and provincial governments to withdraw the reduction in the city’s share of the Octroi Zila Tax (OZT) as because of it, all tiers of the local bodies were suffering financially.

Through a resolution tabled by the treasury benches, amid chaos and noisy disturbances, the council also demanded the restoration of the octroi system and handing over of the revenue collection to the city government.

The proceedings of the council on Thursday were repeatedly marred by noisy protests and disorder as the treasury and opposition benches traded allegations on various issues.

When the house resumed its session, treasury member and Haq Parast panel leader Arshad Qureshi urged Convener Nasreen Jalil to seek the verdict of the house on the resolution submitted by the treasury in the last session. He said the government had already announced the budget and there were no indications that the OZT and the Single Line Transfer Share (SLTS) would be restored.

Upon this, Awam Dost panel leader Juman Darwan said he was against the proposed revenue cuts, but he was not in favour of a debate on the resolution at that stage as, according to his information, the provincial government was reviewing the situation and a policy statement would be announced by July 1.

Mr Darwan’s speech was followed by Rafiq Ahmed of Al-Khidmat panel and other opposition members, including Sheikh Mehbub Rehman, Ismail Brohi, Anwar Baloch, Ramzan Awan and Naseem Khan.

They slammed the reduction in the OZT and SLTS, but deplored that for the past three years, the opposition had been demanding the restoration of union council funds but the treasury benches ignored it and adopted a negative attitude towards the grievances of the opposition.

Uproar in the house

Rafiq Ahmed insisted that the issue of UC funds should also be made part of the pending resolution and then the opposition would have no objection to its passage. The remarks of the opposition created uproar in the house.

Haq Parast panel leader Asif Siddiqui, who is also leader of the house, disagreed with the contention of the opposition, saying that the two issues were quite different and were not interlinked, and charged that the opposition was trying to sow confusion in the house.

Mr Siddiqui said funds were being granted to the district government by the federal and provincial governments from the OZT and the SLTS under an agreed formula after the federal government took over the collection of octroi from the city government.

He argued that it was not charity being doled out to the city government, but the right of the people of Karachi. As far as the UC fund was concerned, it was a discretionary fund granted by the city nazim, he added.

While Mr Siddiqui was submitting his arguments, several opposition members interrupted him with slogans such as “restore UC funds,” “we do not want charity,” “we want our rights,” etc. However, treasury members applauded Mr Siddiqui’s speech by thumping desks and raising slogans such as “Karachi dushman Murdabad.”

Pandemonium broke out in the house as both sides continued to shout slogans against each other. The convener urged both sides to stay calm, and suspended the proceedings of the house for five minutes.

Later, when the house resumed its proceedings, both sides stuck to their guns and levelled charges against each other. There was utter confusion and noisy disturbances in the house and one could hardly listen to the speeches being made by members.

In the meantime, Mr Abdul Jalil of the treasury drew the attention of the convener to the resolution on the OZT, saying that the resolution was very important as it was related to the future of the city.

Thereafter, the resolution was submitted in the house for vote, and the treasury members passed it. The opposition protested against the way the resolution was presented in the house.

After the adoption of the resolution, the convener informed the house that KWSB Chief Engineer Gulzar Memon had been called into the house to respond to the members’ complaints.

Water shortage

Several members, both form the treasury and the opposition, complained of water shortages in their respective areas.

Mr Memon told the house that the water shortage problem occurred in the city due to electricity breakdowns. However, Mr Memon said the KWSB was faced with some technical problems, which would be shortly solved.

He said as many as 30 generators had been installed at different pumping stations and about 45 would be installed soon.

The KWSB chief engineer also informed the house that the level of water in the Hub dam was 328 feet, sufficient for three years.

He also told the house members that the government was contemplating measures to abolish illegal hydrants being operated in the city.

“We have also received report of contamination of water from some areas and steps are being taken to plug the leakages and to restore normal water supply to the affected areas,” he said.

In addition, Mr Memon admitted that in some areas generators and pumping equipment was not properly working, but would take up these issues with the officials concerned.

After his speech, the convener adjourned the house to meet on Friday.