Akhtar criticises Centre, provincial govt for neglecting Karachi

He says Karachi is facing a difficult time, problems are worsening

KARACHI: Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar has said that despite generating revenue of up to Rs350 billion for the country, Karachi is mired down by a hoard of problems and the condition of the city has worsened.

He expressed these views while addressing a reception held in his honour at Electronics Dealers Association's (KEDA) head office in Saddar on Tuesday.

"Karachi is facing a difficult time," he said, adding that "however, neither the provincial government nor the federal government is paying any attention to its problems."

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Akhtar said that the traders of Karachi want him to stage a sit-in for the resolution of the city's problems and claimed that 300 representatives belonging to different markets are ready to join the protest. Moreover, he mentioned that the Sindh government is not even paying salaries to its employees despite having control over all of the province's revenue departments. He added that if the employees of the Sindh government get an appraisal, staff also Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and district municipal corporations should also be given a raise.

Speaking with regards to the issue garbage, he said that the federal and the provincial governments have held month-long cleanliness drives but these provided only temporary respite to the citizens from the menace. The mayor reflected that lifting garbage is routine work and short-term campaigns are not the solution to the problem. He said that in order to solve the problems of Karachi, all civic bodies should be brought under the control of one authority.

According to Akhtar, Sindh Local Government Act, 2013 devastated the whole city. "Local governments were paralysed and destroyed before the local government elections were held," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2019.