SUKKUR, Oct 28: Taluka Nazim Naeem Siddiqui has sacked 210 contract employees for their alleged negligence of official duties and having taken up private jobs.

The sacked employees had received salaries of more than Rs30 million from the taluka council without doing any work for the past four years.

Talking to newsmen on Thursday evening, Mr Siddiqui said the taluka council was running short of funds to pay salary to the staff before Eid.

He said that the TMA needed Rs600,000 for the salary of the genuine staff.

He said the sacked employees were employed by the former taluka nazim and were working as personal servants at the houses of officers of the district government and police.

He said that his first priority was to make the city neat and clean.

He said that more than 200 sweepers were deployed in the city and said that the municipal staff along with workers of the Muttahida was supervising the sanitation work.

The nazim said the sanitation work did not involve funds but dedication.

He said the municipal employees needed to be activated, who remained idle during the last five years.

He said that the supply of water to every home was their priority and they were putting efforts for it. Mr Siddiqui said there were seven parks in the city and the biggest of them was Bin Qasim Park.

He said its renovation had been completed and the park would be opened for ladies for three days in a week.

He blamed the former taluka nazim and other officers concerned responsible for rising encroachments in the city.

The taluka nazim said that corrupt employees had been warned to cooperate with the new administration otherwise action would be taken against them.

He said the funds were used on the political basis in the past and were not utilized in a proper way.

He said that they wanted to create awareness among people regarding the supply of water, drainage and sanitation to improve the situation.

Others who were present on the occasion included MQM’s zonal in-charge Feroze Khanzado, Taluka Naib Nazim Rizwan Siddiqui and advisor to the Sindh chief minister Nusrat Aziz.