HYDERABAD, Jan 10: Nazims of different union councils of City and Latifabad talukas and three woman members of the district council have demanded formation of a city district in Hyderabad , comprising the City, Latifabad and Qasimabad talukas, as envisaged in the Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 2001.

Led by the nazim of Union Council-3, City taluka, Q. Mohammad Hakim, they were speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Monday. They said creation of new districts was not a new step because new districts were created with the objective of developing backward areas and helping people get their problems resolved at the nearest place.

They quoted the example of the formation of Badin and Mirpurkhas districts in the past and of four new districts by the present government. They said the City Taluka Council had adopted a resolution for constitution of a city government having three city talukas.

They said majority of people living in rural areas were associated with agriculture and people living in urban areas with trade and industry and services. They said since both communities faced different problems, municipal corporations were created in big cities in the past to manage the water and sewerage system and resolve other problems of residents.

They said under the new plan, it had been decided to constitute city district governments in certain cities, including Faisalabad and Hyderabad. However, they said, the federal government constituted such governments at federal and provincial headquarters and but deferred creation of other city governments.

They said under section-8 of the SLGO, city district governments could be created when population of talukas concerned exceeded one million, more than 66 per cent of the population was associated with trade and industry and services and the administrative structure was insufficient to run administrative functions and resolve problems of people.

They claimed that the population of the three talukas of Hyderabad was 1,120,580, there were 232 mills and factories according to a report of the district council's labour committee and according to the district census report of 1998, 90 per cent of the people were associated with industrial labour and services.

They claimed that creation of a city district government in Hyderabad would create harmonious relations between rural and urban people and strengthen the local government system.

They appealed to the Sindh government, political parties, social welfare organizations and people at large to consider the matter dispassionately and on the basis of merit because it was not aimed at creating a division between rural and urban people or dividing the district on ethnic lines.

When asked why only 20 nazims out of 41 nazims of the three talukas were present and why not a single nazim of the Qasimabad taluka was present at the press conference, they claimed that majority of the nazims supported the demand but they could not come due to unavoidable circumstances.

Answering another question, they opposed the proposal of District Nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman of creating a city district, comprising all talukas of the district, for it violated the SLGO. Similarly, they said, adoption of a resolution in support of the district nazim's proposal would also be in violation of the ordinance.

They did not agree with a questioner that they were making this demand at the behest of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and observed that they had nothing to do with the party. They also denied that their proposal would create rural-urban divide and ethnic animosities.

Those who spoke at the news conference included Mohammad Ali Gohar, Dr Ayaz Arain, Mohammad Yousuf Siddiqui, Tanvir Siddiqui, Rauf Jafri, Babu Ramzan Arain, Ms Rana Siddiqui, Salma Rasheed and Parveen Lodhi.