Murtaza Wahab steps down as Karachi administrator

I worked tirelessly day in and day out but there was no appreciation for the work I did, says Wahab

KARACHI:

Murtaza Wahab on Monday stepped down from his post as administrator Karachi following the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) decision to stop the collection of Karachi Metropolitan Cooperation (KMC) tax in electricity bills.

While speaking to the media, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader expressed regret regarding the court’s decision to temporarily halt the process of collecting municipal taxes through the metropolis’ power utility, K-Electric (K-E).

“I worked tirelessly day in and day out but there was no appreciation for the work I did,” he said.

I have resigned from the office of Administrator KMC. It was an honour to serve people of my city & I would like to thank my party leadership for giving me this opportunity. May our country function on rule of law, in a manner that allows the Executive & Parliament to function pic.twitter.com/gDJp62xAST

— Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui (@murtazawahab1) September 26, 2022

He went on to clarify that the tax for KMC 'did not fill his pockets' but went directly into the accounts of the governing body.

Read KPT to pay municipal tax to KMC: Sabzwari

“The check and balance system at K-Electric is seamless. Even mere Rs100 do not get misplaced,” he said, adding that instead of privatizing the tax collection contract, it was handed over to K-E after days of convincing.

Wahab further said that he had increased KMC’s income from Rs160 million to over Rs3 billion, however, “some people do not wish for this city to have money or see any developmental work being done here”.

Wahab had earlier defended the controversial tax saying K-E would be charging Rs200 per consumer in its bills and the money thus collected would be spent by the KMC on improving the city’s infrastructure. He claimed that the Sindh government would build a road from ICI Bridge to
KPT at a cost of Rs14 billion.