KARACHI: Mayor Wasim Akhtar on Monday criticised the Sindh government for “seizing” the resources of the local bodies in the province and thereafter avoiding the obligation of paying municipal staff salaries, pensions, utilities and solving citizens’ basic problems.

Speaking at a hurriedly-called press conference at the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation head office in response to Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah’s statement, he said the Sindh government had seized a total of Rs21 billion net revenue, including all local taxes of the municipal administration, and released only Rs7bn in the head of the Octroi Zila Tax (OZT) share.

“The chief minister should return and restore the resources and powers of the local bodies if he desires to get rid of the responsibility of payment of expenditures incurred on different heads in local bodies,” he said.

He quoted the chief minister as telling the media that the provincial government had been paying electricity bills of the local bodies for the past many years. The CM had also asked the local bodies to enhance recovery of their respective taxes to attain self-sufficiency.

Flanked by Deputy Mayor Arshad Hasan and the chairmen of three district municipal corporations, the mayor said the local bodies had been paralysed with the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, which made those institutions weak and powerless.

Urges CM to restore the local bodies’ resources before sharing any responsibilities with them

He said the provincial government had taken the local resources, including conservancy charges, betterment tax, commercialisation fee, base transceiver station tower charges and other local taxes worth around Rs20bn to Rs21bn, whereas they provided only Rs7bn as an OZT share.

“A total of Rs3.33 billion was allocated for the Annual Development Programme and only one instalment was released after seven months,” he lamented.

He said 33 taxes were collected by the provincial government and 37 others by the federal government in the city.

The mayor said that the provincial government held the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, Sindh Solid Waste Management Board, Sindh Building Control Authority, Master Plan, transport and town planning under its control. “How ... in such circumstances [can] it become possible for the local bodies to increase their income,” he said, adding that no municipal administration could deliver to the city with such limited powers and resources.

The mayor demanded that the chief minister return the departments to the local bodies and restore the octroi tax with the release of the Provincial Finance Commission Award if he was sincere in his resolve to solve public problems.

Mr Akhtar, who is also a deputy convener of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, said that he and his party would provide full cooperation at all levels if positive thinking was shown on their recommendations.

He said the transfer of powers and resources to the local body institutions would benefit not only Karachi but all local bodies in the province.

Chairman of the District Municipal Corporation-Central Rehan Hashmi, Chairman of DMC-East Moeed Anwer and Chairman of DMC-Korangi S. Nayyar Raza also gave their views on the subject and highlighted the problems of their respective areas.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2020