Mayor slams Sindh govt about ‘self-sufficiency’ of LG bodies

Akhtar claims provincial govt is 'illegally occupying' resources, should hand them over

KARACHI: The Sindh government should end the illegal occupation of resources and hand them over to the local government bodies, urged Karachi mayor Wasim Akhtar.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, Akhtar claimed he wanted to clarify Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah's recent comments about making the local government bodies self-sufficient instead of paying for their utility bills.

"The Sindh government is also responsible for what Shah pointed out," said the mayor. "He knows the way out of this difficult situation but he does not want to do it because of his political convenience and desire to occupy the resources."

He said that the octroi tax, which was the biggest source of revenue generation for local government bodies, was ended. The tax, levied on goods entering a city, had assisted in resolving basic public issues, he claimed. "Later, it was collected by the Sindh government but was not provided to us," he went on, adding that the provincial government collected Rs18 billion in this manner and only gave Rs7 billion to local bodies.

"Local government bodies were paralysed financially and administratively by the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013," maintained Akhtar. "Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) was deprived of conservancy, commercialisation, local taxes and other taxes," he said, accusing the provincial government of taking over Rs20 billion of the KMC's earnings.

He pointed out that this year's annual development programme budget was also significantly lower than the previous year, adding that only one instalment of it had been disbursed in seven months. Meanwhile, he complained, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, Sindh Building Control Authority, master plans, transport, urban planning, sanitation and all other basic affairs were controlled by the Sindh government too.

"How is it possible for local government bodies to increase their income in such a situation?" he asked, warning that the citizens of Karachi would question the Sindh government about the condition in which it has left the city.

Informing the media that the KMC was facing a shortfall of Rs80m simply on account of salary payment, he said that the burden of its loans had been put on it by the provincial government.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2020.