KARACHI: Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani has directed the officials concerned to ensure the completion of Karachi’s ongoing uplift schemes, which are part of the Annual Development Programme (ADP), by the end of the current year, especially the schemes for which 100 percent of the finances have been released.
He issued these directives while chairing a meeting on Tuesday attended by the senior officials of the provincial Local Government Department and its allied projects and agencies.
Ghani reviewed progress on each of the ongoing development schemes of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, Karachi Development Authority, Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation, Malir Development Authority, Lyari Development Authority, CLICK and SWEEP.
He expressed serious resentment at non-serious conduct by the officials concerned in completing these uplift projects. He asked questions regarding the pace of construction works and funds released to complete the under-construction projects.
He evaluated the performance of the head of each of the municipal and civic agencies in completing the schemes included in the ADP.
He castigated the officials concerned who failed to compile comprehensive reports on the uplift schemes being built on their watch.
He also censured the officials of the civic and municipal bodies who failed to complete the development projects despite the 100 per cent release of funds by the provincial government.
The Local Government Minister informed the meeting that serving the masses in the best possible manner was the main objective behind the government’s act of conceiving uplift schemes of billions of rupees.
He said that delays in the completion of these projects due to slackness on the part of the relevant civic agencies not only defamed the government but also caused problems for the people.
He said the last Sindh government’s budget didn’t contain any new uplift scheme because of the main cause of ensuring completion of the ongoing development projects in the current financial year. Ghani said that incomplete development schemes despite passage of six months and release of the sufficient funds proved inefficiency on the part of the relevant officials.
He directed the Additional Chief Secretary of the Local Government Department, Syed Khalid Hyder Shah, to compile a report on the development schemes of all the subsidiary agencies for which 100 per cent of the finances had been released.
He further directed the Additional Chief Secretary that the development schemes still awaiting approval should get authorization by December 15 so that work should also be initiated on them.
The Local Government Minister informed the meeting that the Sindh government was fully serious about completing ongoing development schemes in the province, particularly the projects being constructed in Karachi.
He directed the chiefs of the civic agencies that they should ensure the quality of the development works as there shouldn’t be any leniency in observing standards of the uplift projects.
Meanwhile, Ghani chaired a separate meeting attended by the regional directors, deputy directors, and assistant directors of the Local Government Department posted across the projects.
He directed the regional directors to submit the monthly progress reports of the local government councils in their jurisdiction by fifth of every month.
He told the officials that the Sindh government had waived the fee collected for the issuance of birth and death certificates for five years.
He said the Sindh government had been receiving reports that different union committees had still been receiving fees for registering new births and deaths.
He opined that such an act of the UCs was tantamount to challenging the writ of the Sindh government. He said the regional directors should ensure that the UCs in their respective jurisdictions shouldn’t receive these fees.
He said that comprehensive reports should be compiled containing data and salaries drawn by each of the staffers of 1870 councils, 1618 union councils and committees, 143 town committees, 36 municipal corporations, 22 district councils, 45 town municipal corporations, five divisional municipal corporations, and one metropolitan corporation in the province.
He said that elected councilors couldn’t be paid a salary or allowance as per the Local Government Law, and action should be taken against towns and UCs violating this restriction. Ghani directed the officials of the Local Government Department to perform their duties honestly without coming under any pressure and send a report to their high-ups if they detected any corrupt practice or irregularity.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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