Withdrawal of sanitation tax demanded

Opposition members in the District Council, Lahore, have given a deadline of seven days to the City District Government for withdrawal of 30 percent sanitation tax being charged by the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) for the last eight months.
Lahore District Assembly Opposition Leader Naveed Sadiq Khan stated this while addressing a press conference here on Tuesday.
He said the City District Government was bound to seek approval from the District Assembly prior to levying enhanced tax, he added.
Nazim UC-69 Malik Muhammad Nawaz, Nazim UC 102 Shahid Latif Qureshi, Nazim UC 126 Malik Shahid Aslam, Naib-Nazim UC 102 Mohammad Suleman Rajput, and representatives of some other union councils were also present on the occasion.
District Nazim Mian Aamir Mahmood was repeatedly requested to place the sanitation bill before the house for debate, but he has been delaying the matter inordinately.
The Opposition members had tried to include the said issue in the agenda of last Friday meeting of the District Council, but they were not permitted, he added.
He bitterly criticised the City District Government for enhancing the water charges by 40 percent, adding that people of Lahore are constrained to drink contaminated water and falling prey to various diseases, while most of the localities in the provincial metropolis are still deprived of the facility of potable water. At present, there is no check on Wasa, which is issuing enhanced bills at its own.
Naveed demanded of the City District Government to withdraw the increase made in water charges and adjust the deducted amount in next water bills, saying if our demands were not met, we would take to streets, apart from approaching the Lahore High Court.
'We had given free hand to Mian Aamir for the uplift of Lahore, but he failed to protect the interests of Lahorites, he added.
He also said that District Nazim is bound to present performance report on quarterly basis, but he did not attend the meetings.
He also criticised the bureaucratic approach of DCO Lahore, who enhanced the mutton rate from Rs 120 to Rs 150 per kilogram, while it is being sold around Rs 250 in the market.
The sanitation tax is also being received from residents of Katchi Abadis, he added.