KARACHI: As the meeting of the City Council is going to be held on June 24 to present the budget of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) for the next financial year, the opposition in the house on Friday accused the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Mayor Murtaza Wahab of violating the set rules and tradition by ignoring the proposals from the opposition parties and running the housing on dictatorial terms.

Leader of the Opposition in the City Council Advocate Saifuddin decided to address a press conference an hour after his meeting with Mayor Wahab, which he claimed failed to settle the issues between the two sides.

Although a statement issued by the mayor’s office after the meeting gave an impression of cordial discussions between the two sides and exchange of thoughts over several issues, the opposition leader spoke otherwise.

“The mayor and opposition leader discussed the budget proposals in detail. The mayor informed Saifuddin Advocate that Rs2.5 billion would be spent over development projects during the next financial year. The opposition leader extended his support to the mayor for the city uplift,” said the statement.

JI, PTI leaders demand forensic audit of CLICK, devolution of KWSC at UC level and SSWMB at town level

However, dubbing the statement as eyewash, Advocate Saifuddin described Barrister Wahab “as the worst mayor in the history of Karachi”.

Flanked by Mubashir Hassan Zai, the parliamentary party leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in the City Council, JI’s Qazi Saddaruddin and Jawad Shoaib, he said that defying all traditions and customs, the opposition parties were totally neglected in finalisation of the budget proposals.

He said that the “self-imposed mayor” just shared a few statistics with him at the eleventh hour, instead of taking the suggestions by all the parliamentary leaders into account.

Talking about the one-year performance, he said Mr Wahab announced to provide 75 manhole covers to each union committee and created a hype around it, but he failed to keep his words as only 15 covers were provided to each UC instead of 75.

He added that the mayor hadn’t provided any development funds to the UCs from the exchequer of the KMC.

He also said the hospitals, parks, playgrounds and libraries, everything was in a shambles. The sewerage system had also failed whereas the majority of Karachiites had no other option, but to purchase water, he added.

On the occasion, he demanded devolution of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation to the towns and UCs level. He also demanded for the devolution of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) to the town level.

The JI leader also demanded that the authorities conduct a forensic audit of CLICK (Competitive and Livable City of Karachi) project, expressing his believe that corruption of unimaginable magnitude would be unearthed as a result of the audit.

He said Rs60bn to Rs70bn had been credited to the CLICK.

On top of the demands was inclusion of a stakeholders’ committee in the KWSC management, he said, adding that the local government department became a hub of corruption.

He also demanded that the proceeds of the motor vehicle tax be given to Karachi and said that no new tax should be imposed on Karachiites.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2024