KARACHI, May 14: The City Council in its session on Tuesday expressed concern over delay in the devolution process, and demanded of the government to speed up the process of devolution in the Karachi Development Authority, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and other departments.

The other departments in which the City Council unanimously demanded devolution included the Karachi Building Control Authority, the Lyari Development Authority and the Malir Development Authority and various other departments of the Sindh government, including Bureau of Supply and Prices.

This and two other resolutions were moved by Abdul Razzaq Siddiq, Yaqub Khan and Engineer Abdul Aziz and were adopted unanimously by the House.

These resolutions referred to different clauses of Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO-2001), including 14, 35 and 39 (e) which says that report of different committees of the House would be reviewed after every three months. However, it adds that owing to delay in the devolution, these departments have not yet become part of the City Government.

Another resolution, presented by Abdul Rasheed Beg, related to indifferent attitude of various departments of the City Government who have not responded to queries raised by House members even after three months.

It was stated in the resolution that this attitude was creating disturbances in the working of elected members and demanded action against such officers.

In all, five resolutions were presented in the House. One of the resolution pertained to recent brutal bomb attack in Karachi in which a number of state guests were killed.

The House, through a resolution, unanimously deplored the rising incidents of terrorism in Karachi, and termed it a conspiracy to destroy the peaceful atmosphere in the city.

It deplored the killing of Pakistanis and Frenchmen in the strongest words in the recent hotel blast and said the attack was a plot to defame the newly-established City Government as an inefficient body.

The resolution expressed concern over slaying of noted religious scholar Malik Ghulam Murtaza in Lahore.

The session was hit by a pandemonium when some members accused the City Nazim of escaping from Karachi when he was on a recent visit to Iran.

Though the proceedings of the House were smooth, these were marred when a member offered comments against the Nazim which followed a brief uproar.

Razzaq Sangani accused the Nazim of fleeing to Iran when the city needed him the most during the public meeting by President General Pervaiz Musharraf and during a strike by a political party.

The members of the Al-Khidmat Group objected to his remarks and this created a brief uproar in House.

With approval of these five resolutions, the total number of resolutions adopted by the City Council has now reached 54.—PPI