LARKANA, Nov 28: The Larkana Municipal Corporation faced serious financial problems so much so that it had not paid three-month salary to its staff, said Larkana taluka Nazim Nazir Ahmed Shaikh.

Talking to this correspondent here on Thursday, he said that the corporation had no source of income after the abolition of the octroi tax.

About the weak financial position of the corporation, he disclosed that against the monthly expenditure of Rs7 million, it received only Rs2 million in the head of salaries from the government.

The corporation had 850 staff, of whom 275 were the sanitary workers, he said, adding that it was a meagre strength to cope with the sanitary situation of Larkana.

The acute shortage of sanitation staff, coupled with the obsolete drainage system of the city, had further aggravated the sanitary problem, he said.

The taluka council has demanded of the government to increase the sanitary staff from 275 to at least 600 to overcome the situation, the Nazim said and proposed that the salary of the sanitary staff be paid through the treasury department in the province.

The underground drainage pipelines, laid in 1973, had almost become worn out, the Nazim said and conceded that frequent bursting of main pipelines created unhygienic conditions in the city.

He pointed towards several areas, where the pipeline had been broken and repaired temporarily.

The need of the hour was to replace the outdated underground pipeline, he said and added that a plan of replacement of the old drainage system at the cost of Rs50 million had been submitted to the government.

Almost all the municipal committees and union councils in Sindh were confronting the same problem, he said.

He feared that if the government did not take financial crisis of the municipal bodies seriously, the newly-introduced devolution of power programme would collapse.

FRAUD: Chairmen of Zakat and Ushr committees of 40 Dehs of Shahdadkot Taluka accused the taluka chairman of embezzling Rs10 million and demanded a probe against the official.

Abdul Khalique Khoso and Aziz Hussain Jamali, led a demonstration held outside the local press club on Wednesday demanding the removal of Mohammed Waris Khoso, the taluka chairman of Ushr and Zakat committee, Shahdadkot.

Talking to this scribe they accused the chairman of not only forcibly deducting Rs2000 to 3000 from each instalment of the Zakat issued for dehs but also issuing threats.

They said that they had informed the chairman, district Zakat and Ushr Committee, about the irregularities but the official was not removed.