KARACHI: Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly Khwaja Izhar-ul-Hasan has said that Rs80 billion taxes are being collected from the people of Karachi without any return in terms of facilities, because everything appears fine to the people in power who live in places such as the Defence Housing Authority and Clifton.

Demanding due share from the taxes collected from the city, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader announced that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, where his party had a majority, would not impose any new tax on the people.

Drawing attention of Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Local Government Minister Jam Khan Shoro towards KMC affairs, the leader of opposition said hundreds of KDA employees had been dismissed while some of them had been told to join KMC which didn’t have funds even to pay pension to its retired employees. Only a few days back, an employee killed himself in the Civic Centre while another officer suffered haemorrhage, he said. The KDA had refused to pay any pension nor dues to the employees, he said. The Sindh government did not even take notice of the protest staged against it following the death, he said, asking the chief minister to take immediate notice of the KMC and KDA affairs.

Mr Hassan also drew attention of the house towards a private channel report about China-cutting of three parks by the KDA. He said the KDA was involved in China-cutting not only in the three parks but also in 70 other parks.

MQM Parliamentary Party leader Syed Sardar Ahmad said according to the rules of property tax, the government was entitled to keep with itself only two per cent for its collection but the present government was taking keeping 17pc share. After Octroi tax was annulled in 1999, the government had committed to pay 76 per cent of the amount to the KMC and 16 per cent to Hyderabad district municipality but they had been left high and dry, he added.

Responding to the statement of the leader of opposition, Sindh Minister for Local Government Jam Khan Shoro said the leader of the opposition ought to tell who was behind over-staffing. In the past, he said, employees in grade-7 were promoted directly to grade 20 without any DPC or rules . “We are implementing the orders of the Supreme Court and after the KDA and the MDA, the KMC employees would also be transferred back to their parent departments.”

He said the 200 employees were transferred back to the KMC as they were originally KMC employees and payment of salaries to them was the responsibility of KMC deputy mayor.

Mr Shoro termed the private channel report fake and baseless.

According to the minister, the fact of the matter is that more than 100 MQM offices set up on the KDA plots were demolished during anti-encroachment operations. He said it was everyone knew those who had occupied the government land and involved in China-cutting of the parks.

Mr Shoro said the Sindh government was paying special grant of Rs500 million per month as OGT share to the KMC but even then the issue of paying salaries and pensions to the employees was not solved.

He said KMC was the only metropolitan corporation in Sindh being given special grant. Recently, he said, Rs170 million special grant was also given to KMC hospitals to purchase medicines. Besides a special grant of Rs500 million was given to remove encroachment from storm water drains and mains were also being looked after by the Sindh government though it was the responsibility of the KMC, he added.

Bills

Earlier, the house, which was called to order at 10.30am with Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani in the chair, was adjourned till Thursday at 2.33pm. During its over-four-hour deliberation, the house was informed that the governor had given assent to the five bills – The Sindh Mass Transit Authority Bill 2014, The Karachi Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship Bill, 2015, The Sindh Sacked Employees (Reinstatement) Bill, 2016, The Sindh Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and The Zulfikarabad Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

Also, two of the three bills on the agenda introduced were pertaining to Sindh food authority and Sindh livestock breeding which were referred to the standing committees concerned with the directives to report back with its recommendations to the assembly within a week.

The third bill, Sindh Zakat and Ushr (Amendment) bill, was deferred on the request of Health Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro, who has tabled the bills in the absence of Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Nisar Khuhro.The house adopted three resolutions.

One of the resolutions, which was tabled by Senior Minister Nisar Ahmad Khuhro and supported by a number of lawmakers,expressed profound grief over sudden demise of senior PPP leader Jahangir Badar and paid rich tribute to him by recalling his services for the restoration of democracy and facing countless atrocities of dictatorial rule for his commitment.

The other resolution, which was tabled by Minister for Culture Syed Sardar Ali Shah and supported by scores of legislators across the house, pertained to 273 annual urs of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai. Paying rich tribute to the saint, the lawmakers said he was not only a poet but a social thinker whose subject of poetry was humanity and love. By practising his teachings, peace, unity and affinity atmosphere could be attained in Sindh, they added.

The assembly by the third resolution paid tribute to Baba Shree Guru Nanik on his 548th birth anniversary.

The privilege motion of Mehfoozyar Khan and adjournment motion of Nand Kumar were withdrawn by the movers. Senior Minister Nisar Ahmad Khuhro while responding to the call attention notice of leader of the opposition Khwaja Izhar-ul-Hassan informed the house that the land utilization department of the revenue had not leased out any land to Bahria Town. It was possible that the Bahria Town had purchased the land from private parties, he added. As far as the charges of commercialization of the land was concerned , there was a laid down procedure of paying fee for it, he said, adding that the 14,000 acres mentioned by the leader of the opposition were not leased out by the government.

At the outset of the proceedings, oath was administered to Imtiaz Ahmed Sheikh who was elected in 2013 elections on the PML-F ticket but resigned and returned to the assembly in the recent by-election on the PPP ticket.

Published in Dawn November 15th, 2016