HYDERABAD, Aug 1: The district council on Saturday constituted a committee to investigate into charges of sale of irrigation water in Bulri Shah Karim and another to check quality of material being used by contractors in development works in the district.
The committee assigned to look into charges of sale of irrigation water, levelled by Ghulam Hussain Magsi, will be headed by Miran Mohammad Shah with Mir Ghulamullah Talpur and Khalil Memon as its members and submit its report to District Nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman, the convener said.
Mr Magsi had told the council that his brother and 17 others had been implicated in a false case by irrigation officials simply because he raised his voice against the Kalabagh dam project.
Irrigation engineers were selling water to farmers and forcing each of them to pay Rs25,000, he alleged. Another five-member committee was formed after several members complained of the use of sub-standard material in Rs3.7 million development schemes in each union council.
The committee comprises Ali Mohammad Shah, Hussain Bux Hussaini, Miran Mohammad Shah, Yusuf Qureshi and Khaliq Chandio. Rauf Jafri told the council that both officials and contractors were getting commission through the schemes, however, the latter were not taken to task for their corruption.
Sumaira Akhlaq added that it seemed as if sand was being used in construction of roads. The district nazim proposed that a council session should be held on Aug 5 to debate the issue of the development works in presence of the officials concerned.
PANDEMONIUM: The council witnessed unprecedented uproar when the district nazim presented the annual budget. Proceedings were marred by uproar as members, particularly Ibrahim Chishti, continued to raise civic issues of the city and Latifabad, complaining that only lip service was paid by the district government.
Mr Chishti refused to be prevailed upon despite repeated requests. Tearing up a copy of the budget, he claimed that three children had died after falling in a drain in Latifabad but nothing was done about it.
Moreover, he started beating the desk with a copy of the budget document as the district nazim began his budget speech. His remark that he would not let the nazim present the budget, further aggravated the situation further as members, belonging to the Awam Dost Panel, joined the rumpus. As uproar continued, the convener referred the budget to the council which approved it amid the ruckus.
