KARACHI, May 5: Nazims of Baldia and SITE towns have accused the city district government of subjecting their towns to step-motherly treatment, saying that the CDGK has not allocated funds for any project in these towns in its last three budgets.

Speaking at a press conference at Karachi Press Club, Baldia Town Nazim Aurangzeb Khan and SITE Town Nazim Ameer Nawab claimed that the city government had neither approved any scheme in the last two years nor had it any intention of doing so in the next year's budget.

They said that whatever projects were approved for both the towns were either financed by the federal government under the Khushhal Pakistan Programme or by the province under the annual development plan.

They alleged that the government had failed to give the towns their share from the centre's matching grant and property tax. They said the amount has soared to Rs90 million for Baldia and Rs220m for SITE town.

The SITE town Nazim accused the city government of not including the country's biggest industrial zone, the SITE industrial area, in the Karachi package while the Baldia Nazim criticized it for ignoring the area's cottage industry.

They said the city government had failed to hand over the control of land management, conservancy tax, the fire brigade and the kutchi abadis departments among the towns in accordance with the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001.

The income being generated through the Karachi Building Control Authority, advertisements and Bachat bazaars was not being distributed, they claimed. The Nazims demanded that the provincial government give their share from property tax and the centre's matching grant directly so that development activities could be initiated in their towns.