HYDERABAD: Hyderabad Mayor Syed Tayyab Hussain presented a surplus budget 2017-18 of Rs2.38 billion of Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) amid token walkout by opposition members associated with Pakistan Peoples Party here on Monday.

The protesting members returned to the house after members of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan persuaded them to end their protest and join the proceedings.

Mayor then adjourned the house with a request to members to submit their names for participation in budget debate.

According to budget documents and mayor’s speech, HMC’s total income was estimated at Rs2.38 billion — up by 69 per cent from last year’s Rs1.44 billion.

The budget has a surplus of Rs178,417 if expenditures are deducted from anticipated receipts of the corporation.

Its salary component has Rs1.53 billion allocation against last year’s Rs1.081 billion.

The mayor said that Hyderabad faced a chronic problem of sewerage and clarified that half of the city’s sewerage system was to be looked after by Water and Sanitation Agency.

He added that Wasa was not discharging its responsibility and HMC was being blamed for it.

He disclosed that HMC was considering outsourcing the slaughtering sector to overcome the problem of illegal slaughtering in the city which contributes to insanitation heavily. Cattle pens would be shifted to cattle colony, he said.

MQM’s Salahuddin drew mayor’s attention to the fact that due procedure laid down under new local government law was not followed.

PPP’s Sajida Parveen sarcastically said that Rs80m budgetary allocations for sanitation would be insufficient for HMC as the fund would flow down the drain eventually like previous allocations.

MQM’s Gohar Ali Khan said that criticism was the easiest thing while the fact remained that the Sindh government had given nothing to HMC so far.

The remarks led to a pandemonium in the session, prompting PPP members to stage a walkout.

Salahuddin, Siraj Rajput, Rafiq Ajmeri and others persuaded them to join the session. They objected that no committee was formed for budget presentation.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2017