Back in session: Outrage in Sindh Assembly over treatment of KDA employees

The session started with speaker Agha Siraj Durrani in chair and opposition leader Khawaja Hasan raising the issue

KARACHI: The first session of the Sindh Assembly witnessed on Monday pandemonium on the issue of 200 Karachi Development Authority (KDA) employees who have been transferred to Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and their salaries withheld.

The session started with speaker Agha Siraj Durrani in chair and opposition leader Khawaja Izharul Hasan raising the issue.

"Government has transferred the employees but they have neither been adjusted in the KMC nor have their salaries been released for the last six months," he claimed, adding that deputy mayor Arshad Vohra is avoiding adjusting the employees in the KMC, which is confronted by lots of other issues. "Employees are not getting their salaries or pensions. This has compelled people to commit suicide," he said, threatening to protest and come out on the streets if the government fails to resolve this issue.

"If you want to know the crisis in the KMC, let me tell you," said local government minister Jam Khan Shoro. "It is the Muttahida Qaumi Movement [MQM] which has ruined the KMC and other civic bodies by appointing excessive employees," he said, alleging that the party has occupied more than 100 KDA plots in order to build their offices.

This irked the MQM members, who got to their feet and protested the minister's remarks. Shoro added that MQM members carved out big amenity plots through China cutting and sold the same.  "Massive discrepancies have been witnessed in the KMC. An official working in grade seven has been promoted to grade 20 without any recommendation by the Departmental Promotion Committee," he said.

Hasan in turn accused the minister of being involved in China cutting and said three amenity plots in the city have been sold to builders through this process.

During his speech the MQM members shouted 'shame, shame', causing the speaker to order the MQM members' microphones to be shut off.

"We are following the Supreme Court orders and action will be taken against all employees working against the rules," said the minister, reiterating that the MQM and its workers are responsible for all the problems in the KMC. "KMC is the only corporation in Sindh which gets around Rs500 million monthly as a special grant apart from its budget but unfortunately they are still blaming the Sindh government," he remarked.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2016.