KARACHI, Oct 28: The City Council Karachi will meet on Monday sans opposition to discuss financial and other matters. Naib City Nazim Nasreen Jalil will chair the session.

She has also arranged an Eid Milan Party for the council members at the lawns of her secretariat in the evening.

The treasury benches plan to move nine resolutions on different subjects, mainly relating to financial matters.

The opposition has already announced that it will continue boycott of the session as the approved funds for union councils were not being released although the issue had been settled amicably.

The nine-point agenda includes resolutions on increasing the entry and parking fees for private vehicles for the lifting of meat from the Landhi slaughter houses; increasing the rate of slaughtering animals; and increasing the annual licence fee for meat shops from Rs150 to 350.

One of the resolutions proposes fixing of Rs30 as entry fees for the vehicles carrying husk from the Landhi Cattle Market and increasing the butcher shop licence and registration fee from Rs60 to Rs200 applicable to the shops in the slaughter houses functioning under the city government.

The treasury will also move a resolution on commercialising the Scheme No.5, Khehkashan section of the Shahrah-i-Firdausi.

It will also seek approval of the highest bid, Rs48.8 million, the city government had received at the June 12, 2006 auction for operating the soft drink, ice-cream and ice-candy stalls at the zoo under the CDGK management.

The council will take the up the first quarter-year report of the Primary Education School Committees constituted in February this year and approved by the council. Later, an education committee had been set up in March to bring about improvement in the government schools.

A report on Mother and Child Care Committee, set up on March 25, will also be submitted to the house.

When contacted, opposition leader Saeed Ghani said that the opposition’s boycott of the council session would not end unless the city government released the approved funds to UC nazims.

He regretted the city government had not changed its policy with regard to the funds for development in union councils, particularly those represented by the opposition nazims.

Mr Ghani maintained that without helping the UCs to strengthen themselves financially and administratively, the objective of promoting democracy at grass-roots level could not be achieved.

He also lamented that secretaries were interfering in certain UCs’ day-to-day administrative affairs, thereby creating hurdles for UC nazims.