Amid a noisy uproar the City Council on Thursday through a resolution demanded of the federal and provincial governments to either withdraw their decision on cutting Octroi Zilla Tax (OZT) for the local governments or revive the previous octroi system.
The resolution said the central and provincial governments should authorise the city governments to earn revenue for themselves. The treasury members were of the view that a conspiracy was being plotted to weaken the local government system financially thus paving the way for its dissolution.
The resolution, which was tabled by the treasury's Abdul Jalil, was adopted by the house on majority basis as the opposition members had totally rejected it saying that they were optimistic that the provincial government would next month issue a policy to withdraw the decision.
The session was held on Thursday at Old KMC Building with City Naib Nazim Nasrin Jalil in the chair. The convenor, however, remained failed to maintain decorum in the house where the treasury was playing the role of opposition by creating pandemonium and paying less attention to her orders.
Soon after the session was resumed the treasury members started highlighting the financial problems in their respective union councils (UCs) and towns after the provincial government had deducted 34 percent of OZT share and the ratio from Single Line Transfer (SLT) system funds.
The federal and provincial budgets had been announced but no government had announced withdrawal of its decision on deduction of OZT share, said Arshad Qureshi.
On this, Rafiq Ahmed of Al-Khidmat Group backed Qureshi on the issue and proposed an amendment in the previous resolution with a special reference to non-payment of Rs 9.6 million UC funds and Rs 1.5 million for the members elected on the general seats and others.
A noisy pandemonium hit the house when Leader of the House Asif Siddiqi said that they were demanding their right and not a charity from the provincial and federal governments. His remarks enraged the opposition who demanded the convenor to remove his words from the record.
Jumman Darwan of Awam Dost Panel assured the house that the ministers of Pakistan People's Party would issue a policy next month to announce the demanded withdrawal but in vain as the treasury questioned his position in the ruling PPP. Another opposition member, Naseem Khan told the house that he had witnessed the Secretary Local Government preparing a letter to inform the government on withdrawal of the tax deductions from next month.
However, most of the time the house remained preoccupied with the slogans like 'Karachi Kay Dushman-Hi Hi' from treasury benches and 'UC Funds Bahal Karo', 'Sharam Karo-Haya Karo" from their counterparts on the opposition benches.
While a complete disorder was dominating the house, Chief Engineer Gulzar Memon of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) made his way to answer questions of the house. The session was adjourned till Friday (June 27) at 4.30pm.