Mayor accuses Sindh government of 'seizing' Rs 21 billion net revenue of KMC

Mayor Karachi Wasim Akhtar on Monday said that Sindh government has seized a total of Rs21 billion worth net revenue, including all local taxes, of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), bringing the entire machinery of the civic body to standstill.

Addressing a press conference in response to the Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah's recent statement, Mayor said the provincial government released only Rs7 billion in lieu of the Octroi Zila Tax share.

Deputy Mayor Arshad Hasan and Chairmen of District Municipal Corporations accompanied him at the presser which was held in KMC head office.

The CM should return back the resources and powers of the local bodies if he desired to get rid of the payment of expenditures incurred on different heads in local bodies.

It was nothing but a pipe dream, if Sindh Government was expecting to get itself acquitted of the payment of municipal staff salary and pension, utilities and responsibility to solve citizen's basic problems after seizing the resources of local bodies in Sindh.

"The provincial government had seized a total of Rs21 billion worth net revenue including all local taxes of KMC." he said.

Wasim said that the local bodies have been made fully paralyzed with the SLGA 2013 which made these institutions weak and powerless.

He said that the Sindh government has taken the local resources including conservancy charges, betterment tax, commercialization fee, BTS Tower charges and other local taxes that worth around Rs20 to 21 billion revenue whereas they provide only Rs7 billion as Octroi Zila Tax share.

A total of Rs3.33 billion was allocated for annual development program and only one instalment was released after seven months time.

He said that the provincial government withheld the KW&SB, Sanitation, Building Control, Master Plan, Transport and city planning, how could in such circumstanced it is possible for local bodies to increase their income.