"Residents were confined to the district council. Now they will have an opportunity to join the urban centre," Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro.
By demolishing district councils, the Sindh government has merged the city’s rural areas into the larger Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), The Express Tribune has learnt.
“The government has in principle decided to abolish the local council,” said local government secretary Ali Ahmed Lund. “The summary has been approved by the chief minister and we are waiting for a notification.”
This move was not welcome by the residents of these suburban areas - Malir, Gadap, Keamari and Bin Qasim - who have demanded the provincial government take back its decision.
The Karachi District Council came into being during the tenure of General Ayub Khan in the 1960s as a separate legislative forum for local bodies’ representatives living in the outskirts of the city. The idea was to develop these neglected areas and provide equal opportunities within Karachi peripheries.
Parliamentary affairs minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro confirmed the decision to abolish district councils was made to link these areas to the KMC. “Earlier, the residents of suburbs were confined to the district council but now they will not only have an opportunity to join the urban centre, through the district municipal corporation, but will be members of the KMC where they can raise issues of their areas and resolve problems,” he explained. Areas falling close to Malir district, for example, will be added to it and the development funds for these areas will be allocated to Malir.
“There is no significance change,” Mandhro clarified. “We have only amended the law by converting the name of union councils into union committees and abolished the district council.” He went on to say that these changes were only made for Karachi. “All other district councils in rural Sindh will continue to exist.”
Happened before
According to Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Hakeem Baloch, the district councils were abolished earlier after General (retd) Pervez Musharraf introduced a devolution plan. The City District Government Karachi was formed and the then rulers encroached on all powers by putting these areas under the KMC, he said.
“The city government completely neglected the rural areas of Karachi in its 10-year tenure,” he claimed. “Not a single school, dispensary or road was built.” Baloch insisted the residents of these suburbs were in high spirits after the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government passed the new local government law and restored the old status of the council. “But it looks like the PPP has succumbed to pressure from its former coalition partners and made this decision.”
Administration
Currently, the district council comprises of 24 union councils. After the government’s decision to abolish it, the union councils will be distributed among the district municipal corporations (DMCs) of Malir and South districts. “The PPP is keeping eye at the urban areas of Karachi in the local government elections that is why the provincial government wants to incorporate its areas into Malir and district South,” explained Baloch. “But, in the long term, this will prove to be a fatal decision.”
Baloch had been a PPP loyalist before jumping ship to join the PML-N during the May 11 elections.
On the other hand, MPA Haji Shafi Jamote - who has served as the chairperson of the district council - has welcomed the decision. According to him, this will ultimately result into the development of the rural areas of Karachi and pave the way for local people to rein Malir district.
“There are now 16 union councils in Malir,” he pointed out. “With the induction of 20 to 22 UCs of these rural areas, the locals will sweep the upcoming LG elections.”
Meanwhile, Jamote was concerned over the land revenue records of these areas, which may be declared null and void after this decision. “The government must ensure that, under the revenue act, the 100-year lease of the agriculture land is not cancelled. Besides, there is job quota for the suburban residents in government jobs and public universities, which must be ensured.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th,2013.
COMMENTS (2)
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Need to be decentralized, otherwise will get neglected. More than one way to link rural and urban. Absorption or integration. If absorption, must decentralize. Also need to increase density and high rise building pattern. Otherwise costs will always exceed revenue. This is happening in rich countries like US/Canada, so certainly will happen in Pakistan
It looks like these persons who have such notions, to change this with that or that with this, will someday bring down the whole house. O God! Forve them for thy do not know what thy are doing".