May 07, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1, 1429

KARACHI, May 6: A drastic cut in the monthly grant of Octroi and Zila Tax to Lyari has disappointed the town municipal administration, which is already faced with shortage of funds because of its limited resources.

Sources in the town administration said that the Sindh finance department through a recent letter notified a reduction of about Rs10 million in the monthly share of Octroi and Zila Tax without assigning any plausible reason. The share was reduced from Rs26.236 million to Rs16.788 million, they said.

Caretaker town nazim Mehmood Hashim, meanwhile, in a letter addressed to Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah stated that the sudden reduction would put the town in a weak financial position that might take it to the verge of collapse. He said that the administration would not be able to release even the current month salaries of the staff, let alone carrying out maintenance and sanitation works of the town.

“Practically, we are already facing a monthly shortfall of Rs60.8 million, which is expected to increase with every passing month,” the nazim added.

With the induction of new government, it was hoped that special attention would be given to the collapsing financial structure of Lyari Town, he said, and added that the reduction in funds disappointed the people of Lyari.

The nazim urged the chief minister to look into matter and issue directives to the finance department to revive the monthly share of Rs26.235 million.

In a separate letter, the nazim complained that funds were not released to the town municipal administration on a basis of actual needs as a result of which the dues of contractors, who executed development works during the past few years, were not cleared. Consequently, no significant development work was carried out in the town since the installation of local government system, he regretted.

He also pointed out that at the time of bifurcation of the former Karachi Municipal Corporation and District Municipal Corporations, commercial areas of the old city areas were included in Saddar Town, thereby depriving the town of its major sources of income. He regretted that the recent decision of the finance department would only aggravate the situation.

The finance department’s decision has, meanwhile, greatly disappointed the people of Lyari who were looking to the new government to bring an end to their sufferings.

People said lack of amenities, poor living conditions, pollution, unemployment, crime and so called gang war were the issues that needed urgent attention of the authorities. The town administration claimed that it was unable to address these issues owing to lack of funds and cooperation from the city as well as provincial authorities.