KARACHI, Feb 13: The City District Government of Karachi has decided to deviate from the notification that authorised it to collect huge infrastructural charges from citizens of the metropolis holding residential, industrial, commercial or amenity units.

Speaking to Dawn on Friday, the city government’s executive district officer of municipal services, Masood Alam, said that for residents of apartments, the bills would either be directly issued to the residents or be issued through apartment/flat unions.

He said that in apartment complexes where there was a high rate of occupancy and an active union was present, the bills would be collected indirectly. For complexes with this was not true, residents would be charged based on the covered area of their flats, he added.

The notification issued by then acting nazim Nasreen Jalil on June 25, however, states that residents of apartments will only be charged through their respective unions.

The notification said: “For flats with the consultation of unions 15 to 20 per cent of maintenance charges which is being collected by the union will be paid to the department as utilities charges, and no extra burden will be put on the residents.”

Mr Alam said that the quantum of recovered amount will remain the same in both conditions.

Citizens, however, remain confused over the issue, and maintain that union managers, who already charge high service and utility charges, will now demand additional fees which they say are for the infrastructure tax.

They fear that the authorities are acting in haste, and are failing to realize that many unions and associations do not always work for the betterment of residents.

Meanwhile, workers of a political party and residents held a demonstration against the introduction and collection of the infrastructure/utility charges near the CDGK headquarters at Civic Centre in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Friday.