HYDERABAD, Dec 6: Members of district council on Thursday came down hard on the Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA) and held it responsible for uncovered gutters and manholes in the city, which often led to deaths of minor children.
Mehboob Abro, a council member, tabled a resolution on the issue triggering a heated debate after he, supported by a number of other members, took a swipe at the district government blaming it for ill-planning in the ongoing development works and waste of public money.
Mr Abro said that nobody seemed to take notice of uncovered manholes and gutters on the roads and streets posing a grave danger to the lives of minor children.
He said that on the one had the district government was spending billions of rupees on mega projects while on the other it had not paid any attention to such an important issue.
Mr Abro also insisted on tabling a resolution about Niaz Stadium, which had been leased out for 30 years to Pakistan Cricket Board by the district government, and demanded that he be shown the lease agreement papers.
Yamin Soomro supported his stand saying that a similar case of waste of public money was witnessed in his union council where a sewerage line was being laid all over again due to technical fault of engineers after it had once laid, incurring unnecessary expenditure.
“It’s really painful to see such a waste of funds. What were engineers doing when they first laid the line? Didn’t they know that they were committing error?” he asked.
Munawar Khan Zai agreed with Mr Abro on open gutters but stressed that it did not absolve members of their responsibility. They should first take up the issue with concerned agency before raising it in the council’s session.
Hussain Bux Hussaini joined the critics of the district government saying that open manholes was the problem of the whole city. A road built at a cost of Rs2 million had been washed away during rains, he said adding that if something went wrong against district nazim the members were bound to feel it because they were part of his team, he said.
Mohammad Aslam defended the district government saying that they must also realise that no previous government had undertaken development works in the city on such a large scale.
Dr Arif Razmi urged critics to indulge in healthy criticism and consider themselves part of the city. Normally covers fell into gutters because of poor material, he said.
Convenor Zafar Ali Rajput referred the resolution to the council’s works and service committee directing the body to get a survey on the issue conducted by HDA and taluka municipal administrations (TMAs).
Zahida Memon tabled a resolution on the conversion of amenity plots in Aliabad Housing Scheme into commercial plots. Rashid Khan said that HDA should conduct an inquiry into the matter while Hussain Bux Hussaini called for checking this practice.
Mehboob Abro appreciated district nazim for not issuing NoC to certain land-grabbers near bypass who had obtained a piece of land for petrol pump but started grabbing the nearby land as well.
The session was adjourned to Saturday.