HYDERABAD, Oct 17: District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil and 75 members of the district council took oath of office at the council hall here on Monday. The oath was administered by the district and session’s judge and returning officer, Zaheeruddin S. Leghari.

DCO Mohammad Hussain Syed conducted proceedings of the house.

The members signed the oath which was then collected by district government officials.

Reading the text of oath, the district nazim said he would work for the development of the district and take transparent decisions.

He said he would work according to the Sindh Local Government Ordinance and the provincial government’s policies.

Mr Jamil said he would not let his personal interests prevail over his official work.

He vowed to protect interests of the people of the district and promised to work for their welfare.

He said that he would not disclose any matter directly or indirectly which came to his knowledge officially.

Qasimabad Dost Panel’s Mehboob Abro and Awam Dost Panel’s Yamin Soomro objected to administering oath in Urdu.

They said it was not the council of the MQM alone but of the entire district and the oath should had been administered in Sindhi which was also Naveed Jamil’s mother tongue.

The presiding officer said the election commission had sent him the oath in Urdu and it should not be opposed.

“There is no harm if the oath is administered in Urdu”, the DRO said.

A council member, Mohammad Ehsan, said that it was decided in the last tenure of the council that both Urdu and Sindhi would be accepted in the council and the objection of his colleagues was not justified.

District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil said he shared the feelings of his colleagues and wanted to take oath in Sindhi because it was his language.

The presiding officer administered the oath to eight members, including three women, in Sindhi.

Some members who had earlier taken the oath in Urdu also opted for the second oath in Sindhi.

The elected nazims, naib nazims and councillors of 20 union councils of the city taluka were administered oath by RO Faheem Siddiqi at the Government Zubeda Girls’ College.

RO Ubaidullah Pathan administered oath to the elected nazims, naib nazims and councillors of 17 union councils of the Latifabad taluka at the Public school.

Elected members of 11 union councils of Hyderabad (rural) and four union councils of the Qasimabad taluka were administered oath by RO Abdul Wahab Abbasi at the Sindh Museum.

Khawind Bakhsh Jahejo, who had been elected nazim of Hatri union council was elected as the taluka nazim of Hyderabad (rural) and took oath.

The taluka nazims of city, Latifabad and Qasimabad also took oath.

The in-house election of the district naib nazim would be held later on notification of the election commission.

Zafar Rajput, a labour councillor of the Haq Parast Panel, was nominated for the naib nazim.

Meanwhile, District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil has listed his priorities in his first speech to the council on Monday.

He said that great responsibility was placed on the shoulders of newly-elected council members and they had to come up to the expectations of people.

The new nazim vowed to work without any discrimination among the members regardless of their party affiliation.

He sought cooperation from the district council members and said that they should work with him side by side.

Mr Jamil said they had to reconstruct Hyderabad and establish industrial units, remove encroachments, improve drainage system and provide clean drinking water to rural and urban population of the district.

He stressed upon the need for provision of basic facilities at the doorsteps of people of the district.

He urged the members to inculcate awareness among people to keep their localities clean.

Mr Jamil said that Hyderabad had lost its glory over the last several years.

“Today all the street lights are defective in the city which once used to be known as city of lights,” he said.

He said the city was confronting with the chronic problems of encroachments on streets and chaotic traffic conditions which had made the lives of people miserable.

“Pedestrians do not find place to walk on the footpath while vehicles get stuck on the roads,” he said.

The nazim said he underscored the need for establishing industries to create employment opportunities in the district.

Later, talking to journalists in the office of convenor he said that they would make necessary changes in the Hyderabad Development Package if required.

He said that he would appreciate any suggestions for development of the district from the outgoing district and taluka nazims.

When asked about the slogans in the house in favour of the MQM and Altaf Hussain, the nazim said that people could not control their emotions and chanted slogans.

He said that he did not know if the outgoing district and taluka nazims and naib nazims were invited to the oath-taking ceremony or not.

DONATION: Prof (Dr) Abdul Sattar Ansari, former dean of the Faculty of Islamic Studies, University of Sindh, has donated Rs500,000 to the President’s Relief Fund for earthquake victims from his commutation amount.