On close scrutiny, the experts have found the Rs1.4 lakh surplus budget to be not only over-ambitious on the expenditure side, but also over-optimistic in the assessment of the Corporation’s revenues.

The experts’ committee has, therefore, strongly “recommended” slashing of the KMC expenditure, including capital expenditure, by Rs1 crore, and lowering its revenue estimates of Rs3 crores to a figure around Rs2.40 crores.

A number of development projects — besides a number of other items rubbed out by the committee — will have to be abandoned or left incomplete. In any case, even if there had been no official committee, these projects would not have been executed for want of funds.

The KMC members will discuss the committee’s recommendations sometime next month. The KMC Finance Committee had not been consulted at any stage.

Having already spent about Rs1.50 crores and with four months still to go before the close of the current financial year, the KMC will have to really tighten its belt. Realising this, the committee has strongly advised the corporation to grease its sluggish tax recovery machinery to make it run efficiently.

Fish prices go up by 300 per cent KARACHI: The prices of fish have shot up by 200 to 300 per cent. The prices ruled steady before Ramazan. Competent sources blamed the fishermen for boosting the prices. The fishermen, however, blamed the poor catch for the spiral. The price of shrimp has also gone up recently from Rs1.50 per seer to Rs2.50 per pound — but for a different reason. The USA is said to have taken to Pakistani shrimp.