Acute water shortage, overflowing drains, depleted roads, prolonged power failures and other civic problems overshadowed the budget session proceedings of the City Council on Tuesday.
The council session, which was basically convened to debate over the draft budget of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) for the next fiscal, setting aside the main agenda continued to focus on the battered infrastructure and inefficient services of the utility organisations of the metropolis.
The convener of the House, Naib Nazim Tariq Hassan tried his best to persuade the council members that the sole agenda of the session was to discuss the draft budget and, therefore, they should desist from raising other issues on the floor.
However, the enraged members did not pay any attention to the convener's request and said that they must highlight the problems of their respective localities as people held them responsible to resolve it.
They strongly criticised the water board's dismal performance and reluctance to address the problems of the citizens and threatened to block approval of its budget.
In view of acute water shortage in many areas of the city and dilapidated sewerage system, a number of council members agreed upon that the proposed budget of the Water and Sanitation Department (KWSB) should not be approved unless the department did not improve its performance and ensure adequate supply of water.
Council Member Ghulam Akbar incensed by consistent shortage of water in his respective area, tore down the draft budget document, proposing Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KW&SB) allocation. He argued that the department had not been merged into the CDGK in real and as such it was not the part of CDGK, hence, the approval of its budget was not the responsibility of the council.
Another member Razzaq Sanghrani raised similar concerns about Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) and condemned its arbitrary decisions and steps without consulting the CDGK despite being a part of it. Other members highlighted on prolonged power failures, shabby roads and depleted sewerage system of many of the city's localities.
They demanded substantial increase in the Union Council allocations and proposed that it should be enhanced from the proposed Rs 3.5 million to Rs 20 million to each UC through reduction in the discretionary funds of the City Nazim.
Newly elected member Afsar-ul Haq said that Rs 800 million had been earmarked under the head of City Nazim's discretionary fund in the current budget, whereas the new draft budget also proposed Rs 300 million on the same account and alleged that this fund was only for Al-Khidmat Group.
Later, Tariq Hassan asked the members to submit their budget proposals to the Finance Committee of the House within 10 days, ie from May 5 to May 15, 2004.
Finance Committee Chairman Nazeer Sajid, Riaz Tabassum, Siddique Rathore, Saeed Ghani, Rehman Gul, Yaqoob Khan, Ahmedullah and Mangla Sharma also spoke on the floor.