KARACHI, Oct 18: Civic problems, especially water supply, sewerage and road repair came under discussion at an interaction session held between the Nazims of the towns of Karachi and the Sindh government officials here on Thursday.

The session was chaired by provincial local government minister, Dewan Muhammed Yousuf Farooqu. it was attended, among others, by the city Nazim, Naib Nazim, secretary local government, DCO Karachi, DG KDA, MD KWSB and DG Katchi Abadis.

Addressing the meeting the minister asked the town Nazims to fix their priorities so that the outlying issues are effectively settled and the problems solved.

Referring to financial problems, Dewan Yousuf asked the Nazims to generate their revenues through various means and proper collection of taxes. He said they would also get financial aid after the award of the provincial finance commission.

He said that overlapping in the responsibilities of various civic agencies would end when these are finally devolved by December 31.

The Nazims brought the problems of their offices, vehicles and staff to the minister’s notice and demanded the return of vehicles under the use of the officials of the defunct DMCs to the Towns.

The Minister directed the secretary local government to ensure that this matter was sorted out.

The Nazims also raised the issue of their limited financial powers. They demanded that existing ceiling of their financial authority be enhanced from Rs10,000 to Rs50,000. The minister assured that this demand would be given due consideration.

On the occasion the Nazims gave various suggestions for successful run of the system which they described as a very good system as it was going to solve the problems of people at one hand and ensure speedy development process on the other.

They asked for close coordination between them and officials for speedy achievement of set objectives.

Dewan Yousuf directed the secretary local government and DCO that administrative problems as outlined by Nazims should be solved on priority basis. — APP