City council members to protest against Sindh govt today

MQM unhappy with govt for not approving any of KMC's mega projects in budget

KARACHI: All political parties of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's (KMC) city council, except for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), will protest against the Sindh government outside the Sindh Assembly today (Friday).

According to Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) - Pakistan's city council parliamentary leader Aslam Khan Afridi, the protest will be held against the Sindh government's attitude towards the people of Karachi. "No mega project of the KMC has been approved in the current budget," he said, adding that neither did they take city council members on board. He assured that other than the PPP, members of all the political parties will be with them. Afridi claimed that if their demands are not met, their voters too will protest against the provincial government.



During a press conference on Wednesday, Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar said it was a 'sheer insult' to the elected city council, whose 143 development schemes were ignored by the Sindh government in the budget.

The KMC, he said, had proposed 143 schemes worth Rs25 billion for the provincial Annual Development Programme but not a single penny has been allocated to the KMC, which is a sheer insult to the local council representatives. "Almost all the schemes we had prepared involved consultation of six district municipal corporations chairmen, union committees and other municipal bodies of Karachi," he said.



On the other hand, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf's Karachi president Firdous Shamim Naqvi told The Express Tribune that if all city council members opt to protest, then they will also take part. "After all, we are part and parcel of the city council," he said.

Naqvi demanded the Sindh government give the people of Karachi their rights. He said Karachi needs water, mass transit and the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR). "The Sindh government announces these schemes in the budgets but does not construct any projects," he said, adding that since last six years they have been hearing about the K-IV project but the people of Karachi have not received any water yet. Speaking about the KCR project, he said in its budget, the Sindh government did not indicate how what percent of the project they will be able to construct this year.