KARACHI, Aug 17; Sindh chief minister Ali Muhammad Mahar has approved in principle the proposal regarding takeover of the new Sabzi Mandi by the city government from the agricultural department in accordance with the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001.

Earlier, city Nazim Naimatullah Khan, accepting the offer, had asked the Sindh government to initiate the takeover process. The decision to accept the offer was taken in the subcommittee meeting held on Friday.

The city Nazim was of the view that the state of affairs at the Mandi called for effective reforms in the management.

The Sindh chief secretary has summoned a meeting of the departments concerned next week to consider the report of the subcommittee and finalize the matter in light of rules and regulations.

The subcommittee, comprising representatives of the Karachi Building Control Authority, Rangers and the agricultural department, was formed by chief secretary Dr Mutawakil Qazi on Wednesday in a meeting which reviewed complaints of mismanagement, mushrooming constructions and deteriorating conditions at the Mandi.

Secretly agriculture Aftab Memon pointed out that under the SLGO, the market committee fell under the city government, but in Karachi the market committee had been placed under the agriculture department. He suggested that the management of the Mandi be handed over to the city government as required under the SLGO.

At the meeting it was reported that complaints of mismanagement at the Mandi had kept increasing, and during a period of one year half-a-dozen administrators of the market committee had been changed, but without any results.

It was said that each time a new administrator was appointed he soon became part of the prevailing system or was shown the gate due to the influence of the vested interests in the affairs of the Mandi.

The meeting was told that the allottees of the Mandi did not like the posting of police personnel from Gadap Town at the S.M. police post as they had failed to check encroachments on open spaces, even on the roads, causing inconvenience to people in their movement and creating traffic problems.

It was proposed that the Gadap police be replaced by Rangers to bring discipline, or the city government should raise its own force for policing at the Mandi.

KBCA chief Brig A.S. Nasir pointed out that due to absence of an approved master plan for the Mandi, illegal constructions were being carried out.

After the recent rains the condition of the Mandi is pathetic with dumps of filth, rotten fruits and vegetables; the roads are flooded with rainwater and mud surrounds the auction sheds.

Dumps of rotten stuff and the mud around the vegetable sheds in block C have made it exceedingly difficult for any vehicle to unload vegetables. Vehicles get bogged down in the process. Sewage from chocked drains has mixed with rainwater causing unhygienic conditions. The power and water problems pile on the agony.

Haji Javed, convener of the Wholesale Fresh Fruit Merchant and Growers Association said that the “Kunda system” was flourishing right under the nose of the officials of the market committee with power being supplied direct from transformers, while those with legal power connections were suffering, and the rooms built for substations had been rented out. Haji Javed added that the power supply problem could not be solved unless the power cable was laid underground.

“The potable water supply condition is no less miserable. The water board disconnected the supply last month as the market committee had not paid the bill amounting to Rs5.4 million”, he said and added that the water which was meant for consumers at Mandi was supplied elsewhere from water tankers by unscrupulous elements of the market committee.

Haji Javed recalled that in the original layout plan there were only 1764 shops and auction sheds which were later increased to 4072 in 1996 in the revised plan, whereas in the plan submitted to the ombudsman and the Supreme Court, the total number of auction facilities at the Mandi was increased to 4348.

“The latest plan, the 12th in line, which has been submitted to the city government for approval, shows more than 6000 shops and sheds,” he said.

Haji Javed has appealed to the governor for hand-over of the Mandi to the city government to streamline the affairs of the Mandi.

“This way some use can be made of the collection made as tax up to Rs100 million from vehicles. It is being collected by the market committee without providing any facility to visitors and allottees of the shops,” he said.