The meeting was convened by Naib Nazim Nasreen Jalil. As soon as she took her seat, she asked the chairperson of the committee on finance, planning and development to submit committee’s report on 2006-07 budget in the house for a debate. The budget was presented by the City Nazim on June 22, and then it was referred to the finance committee for scrutiny and approval.
The committee at its meeting held on June 24 passed a resolution for council’s approval of the budget.
However, opposition leader Saeed Ghani, also a member of the finance committee, drew the attention of the chair to various violations of rules being committed by the committee, claiming even the committee’s meeting was not properly conducted and his dissent note was not made part of the committee’s report, and insisted that his note be included in the committee report.
Pointing that he had serious reservations about the legality of the budget, Mr Ghani urged the convenor to give him sufficient time to argue his case.
On this, the convenor explained that she wanted all members to vent their views on the budget because it was a matter of public interest. She allowed the opposition leader to make his submissions and also allowed other members to speak. Surprisingly, the treasury members did not interrupt the opposition leader during his half-an hour speech.
Pointing towards various violations in budget rules, Mr Ghani said under the SLGO rules 2001 (clause 28/2), it was obligatory upon the DCO to submit implementation report of various projects at the annual meeting of the council which was not done. He further stated that under the budget rules, the Nazim was bound to give priority to the disadvantaged groups, but it was ignored in the budget.
He further stated that under the budget rules, consultation was made necessary with stake-holders which included among the District Advisory Committee, comprising all town nazims, but, he said, no meeting of the advisory committee had been called.
Moreover, the council was not provided a copy of development schemes and recommendations approved by the development committee, he said, adding under the budget rule 36 (1), the council’s approval was necessary for any change in the expenditure of development projects or for any other purpose.
He also criticised the City Nazim’s statement regarding the UCs Nazims, saying UCs were basic tier of the present system and if they were not provided funds to execute development works at the grass-root level , how would the system work.
Mr Ghani told the house that the City Nazim had spent Rs450 million from his discretionary funds, but there was no information as to how this amount was consumed. On this, the convenor made a slight remark and told the opposition leader that the City Nazim was not present here to reply you.
The opposition leader also slammed the CDGK policy vis-à-vis the Karachi Water Sewerage Board, saying it was not clear that the KWSB was part of the City Government or an independent body. There were also reports about its privatization and at the same the city government was upgrading its employees.
The chair repeatedly reminded Mr Ghani that there were also other speakers who wanted to speak. At one stage, she had to intervene and urged the opposition leader to let other members vent their views on the budget. She agreed with the opposition that the system should be transparent.
After this some of the members from the treasury benches defended the budget, saying it was a good and positive one in line with the wishes of the people. They maintained that the budget was in the larger interest of the city, saying for the first time funds have been provided not only for development purposes but also for promotion of education.
An allocation of Rs10 billion has been made which is 66 per cent more than the previous budget, they said and added the city government had planned to construct 36 model schools — two in each town.
They further stated that not only this Rs200 million have been earmarked for development of infrastructure in villages and special funds have been allocated for uplift of Lyari and other backward areas.
The treasury benches urged the opposition that instead of criticizing the city government, they should extend their cooperation for the welfare of the people because this city belonged to all.
Some of the opposition members suggested that funds for development of villages should be increased to one billion instead of 200 million. One of the opposition member blasted the city government for ruining Karachi, saying roads were broken without any planning as a result every citizens were worried today.
The members, who participated in the debate, included Abdul Razak, Sher Afghan, Arif Bhatti and Asif Siddiqui.