KARACHI, June 25: City Nazim Naimatullah Khan has retreated the demand of handing over “port users fees and road users fees” to the city government.

Terming it a right of Karachi he said: “This way we will be able to serve people and improve the infrastructure of the city”.

The Nazim reiterated this demand while presenting the budget of the city government for the next financial year 2002-2003 at the city council hall, KMC Building, on Tuesday. The hall was filled to the capacity where DCO Shafiq-ur-Rehman Paracha and other EDOs of the city government were also present. The session, which began with a recitation from the Holy Quran and Naat-i-Rasool (SAW), was presided over by Naib Nazim Tariq Hasan.

Before the Nazim could start his budget speech, a rumpus was witnessed for a while when Siddique Rathore, Abdul Razzaq Sanghani and their colleagues raised slogans terming it the budget of the bureaucracy as the elected representatives of people were not taken into confidence so much so that even the Naib Nazim was not consulted.

Mr Sanghani also staged a token walkout and returned on persuasion of Siddique Rathore. After this incident the speech of the Nazim was heard with attention. As it ended Rathore, Sanghani, Najmi, Abdul Razzaq, Jafar-ul-Hasan and others tried to create a rumpus again but the chair announced the adjournment of the session.

In the budget speech Nazim himself was critical of the authorities, pointing out that despite the enforcement of the new local government system, the process of the transfer of power had yet to be completed and despite resolutions of the city council the transfer of the departments from the provincial government had not completed so far.

“Although in the preface of the Local Government Ordinance 2001 it has been mentioned that the purpose of transferring political, administrative and financial powers to the local government is aimed at good management and better services to the people and transparent decisions could be taken with the participation and consultation of the people”.

Recalling the remark of the NRB chief that authority without financial powers was meaningless, the Nazim lamented that accounting and financial control of the transferred departments continued to be with the accountant general Sindh who was “beyond our control”.

Even today many decisions, whether financial or administrative, are being taken without our consultation. On this important occasion today, on behalf of all of you, I would like to ask how long this process will go on,” said the Nazim.

In this connection the Nazim referred to the amendment ordinance promulgated a few days back through which “whatever financial control the elected institutions had stands transferred to AG Sindh and treasury officer from July 1st, 2002, rendering us helpless in financial decisions resulting in the suspension of work and performance of services to the people”.

He appealed to the Sindh governor to immediately defer the enforcement of the amended ordinance. He pointed out that the outgoing financial year had been a very difficult year for want of resources. He said the amount which the city government had been receiving every month in lieu of Octroi from the GST was the same which the defunct Karachi Metropolitan Corporation had been getting and perhaps it was unbelievable that the city government instead of receiving the amount wit additional money had been paid 25 per cent less than what the KMC had been receiving.

“Despite financial constraints and the provision in the SLGO, he said, the city government had not imposed any tax on the education and the health sector and on the contrary a proposal to provide relief to the people in the present tax structure, by rationalising the fire tax, was under consideration. He said a system of “one window” tax payment was also being worked out to facilitate people.