Say hello to the new house tax

Staff Report

KARACHI: The city council has approved a new tax on residential plots, houses and flats from Rs 70 per month to Rs 800 per month for solid waste collection.

The session was presided over by Convener Ahsan Siddiqui at Old KMC Building here on Monday. The House offered the Fateha for the Islamabad bomb blast victims.

Haq Parast members Mirza Sajid Baig and Moeenuddin Ahmed tabled the utility charges resolution.

The utility charges for ‘B’ category (industrial) have been approved as Rs 500 on 200 sq yds and Rs 1,000 would be collected on those covering 500 sq yds. The utility charges for ‘C’ category (indemnity plots) would Rs 500 for plots of 1,000 sq yds and Rs 2,000 for plots of more than 500 sq yds.

Soon after the session started, Siddiqui said that the Karachi Mass Transit Programme (KMTP) was of vital importance for the city. He invited the CDGK Mass Transit Cell EDO Zaheerul Islam to give a briefing but opposition leaders Saeed Ghani, Rafique Ahmed and Ramzan protested and starting shouting slogans. The session had to be suspended but resumed after fifteen minutes. However, opposition leaders again prevent Islam from giving the briefing.

PPI adds: Opposition leader Saeed Ghani said on a point of order said that at the last session, the naib nazim had given a ruling that it was at the city nazim’s discretion to release funds for union councils or otherwise. He rejected the ruling, saying that the city nazim had no discretionary powers as according to Section 32 of the SLGO he was bound to release budget funds for all union councils.

He argued that the city nazim was not the ‘king’ of the city, and he had no powers to issue or block funds arbitrarily. The city nazim was bound to obey rules and laws. The city nazim could not announce any mega project without the approval of the city council. Ghani regretted that the city nazim was doing this without the approval of the city council but when he was asked to release UC funds, he said he had none.

Parliamentary leader of the Al-Khidmat Panel Rafique Ahmed said that despite many pledges not a signal rupee had been sanctioned for opposition union councils since the last two budgets. He said they had staged protest demonstrations outside the Karachi Press Club, raised the issue in the City Council and used other platforms but all in vain.

Presiding Officer Ahsan Ahmed Siddiqui said the House should initiate discussions on public issues. He asked the members to end their discussion so that officials of the Karachi Mass Transit could give a briefing on the project.

Ramzan Awan of the Opposition said that he had served as an elected member of the House four times since 1983, but this was the first time that funds of the opposition union councils were stopped. He said that when Naimatullah Khan was the city nazim, he (Ramzan Awan) was in opposition but his funds were never stopped.

Arshed Qureshi of the treasury benches appreciated the performance of the present city government. He claimed the city nazim had resolved all problems via mega projects.

Later, in a press conference at his chamber, opposition leader Saeed Ghani condemned the resolution on Public Utility Charges as a cruel burden on Karachi that was already badly affected by inflation and price hikes.

Regarding union council funds, he said that the city nazim had also recruited 6,000 party workers to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and they were being paid Rs 720 million per month in salaries, but he was reluctant to release union council funds.

The next session is scheduled for June 4 at 4:00 p.m.