KARACHI, June 8: The City Council Karachi met on Thursday without any enthusiasm, perhaps due to lack of serious public business as was witnessed in the previous sessions when matters such as electricity and water crisis and new rate rates of katchi abadis dominated the council.
There was no heated debate and allegations and counter allegations, normally witnessed in its meetings.
A resolution by the treasury benches empowering the vice-principal of the Karachi Medical and Dental to maintain an imprest account of Rs15,000 and use it for three times in a week.
The resolution proposed by Abdul Sami and seconded by Abdul Jalil was tabled for discussion by Convener Masood Mehmood.
Both councilors backed by leader of the house Asif Siddiqui tried to convince the house that the amount was nothing but peanuts considering the expenditures of a large institute such as the KMDT.
They said this step had been taken to facilitate the vice-principal to meet his urgent emergency needs.
Opposition leaders Syed Abdul Ghani, Rafiq Ahmed, Ramzan Niazi, Sheikh Mehboob and Islam termed the resolution defective, confused and vague, saying that arguments given in support of the resolution were not sufficient and convincing.
They argued that nothing was clear as to what specific purpose the amount would be used for and moreover, it was also not clear that the said amount would be used three times, meaning Rs45,000 a week.
They maintained that the they had no objection if a fixed amount of Rs40,000 was reserved for the purpose provided specific needs were clearly identified.
They said it was not a matter of public interest as was repeatedly claimed by the treasury members. On the contrary, the issue was related to a particular person of an institution.
The movers of the motion, Sami and Jalil, stood up on point of orders and tried to defend the resolution by repeated arguments. After allowing more members to give their views, the convener put the resolution for vote, which was approved by the house by a majority vote.
The session continued and another resolution from the treasury was tabled in the house by the chair.
It was related to an increase in entry and parking fees for private vehicles used for transportation of meat from slaughterhouses and for transportation of animals to and from the Landhi cattle market.
The rates were increased from Rs5 to Rs10 for Suzuki pickups, Rs10 to 20 for Datsun pickups, from Rs15 to 30 for trucks.
The said resolution was also adopted unanimously by the house. While, another resolution related to reorganization of group officers of law was also passed by majority.
Earlier, the house condoled the death of the mother of a Councilor, Abdul Rehman.
