KARACHI: Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar on Saturday demanded that the prime minister, chief justice of Pakistan and Sindh chief minister review the provincial local government law that empowers the Sindh government to keep civic powers under its control.

He urged to bring amendments in the “controversial law” with consensus from all stakeholders.

The mayor was addressing a press conference here at KMC old building along with chairmen of districts and elected members belonging to all parties.

He said that the chief minister should be serious in making amendments to the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2013, which could be in the greater interest of the whole province.

Mayor Akhtar appealed to the CJP to expedite a petition seeking powers to the city mayor under Article 140-A of the Constitution.

Alleges solid waste management board failed to perform its job during Eid

Referring to an editorial that appeared in Dawn on Saturday, he said that the civic problems were not properly managed under the present system and amendments be made for making local governments more effective.

Saying that the SLGO-2013 was made for achieving political gains, he urged the chief minister to take the initiative to bring amendments in the law through the provincial assembly.

He said that the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) failed to perform its job of lifting offal and garbage.

The mayor said that landfill sites were located at far-off places and it took a lot of time in dumping offal during Eidul Azha.

He suggested that the landfill sites be made in each district of the city as offal disposal always remained an issue.

The mayor also disputed the claims of Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani at a press conference to the effect that there were three million housing units in the city that had a population of 16 million people in the census.

He said that the city’s population was more than 30 million with six million families.

He demanded that resources to Karachi be given as per population shown in the census.

The mayor also called for audit of the SSWMB as, according to him, the expenses incurred by it were far higher than those incurred by the district municipal corporations to lift offal.

He said that the Central and Korangi districts lifted offal in a timely manner during Eid days.

The mayor said that municipal and civic system of the city needed to be changed as 27 different agencies were working in the city.

He demanded that the CJP bring all these 27 agencies under one umbrella to avoid the prevailing confusion over the powers and responsibilities of different departments.

The mayor lamented that the job of the KMC was now under the provincial government.

He also demanded that DMCs be abolished and KMC be made their supervisory body.

Rehan Hashmi, Moeed Anwar and Izhar Ahmed Khan — the chairmen of Central, East and West DMCs, respectively — were also present on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2018