Criticising the strike in Sindh, the opposition members of the City Council said that it was politically motivated, which caused losses of billions of rupees to the people of the province. This was said by the opposition leader, Saeed Ghani.
While addressing a joint press conference on Saturday after a session of the city council, held at city council hall with City Naib Nazim Nasrin Jalil in the chair, was adjourned till May 27, due to the lack of quorum. As the help of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) was a national issue, it was not a solution to strike and stop the already crisis hit poor people, he said adding that we rather should well come these persons on a humanitarian ground.
"We are discouraging the people who had left their homes, they are peaceful and nothing to do with terrorism," said another member of the opposition. Commenting on the issue of power crisis in the city, Saeed Ghani said that the only solution for the shortages was to get back KESC into the government hands as the foreign management had invested nothing so far.
He said as the private companies only see their own interest and do not bother to invest in the public utility, the only solution was nationalise it again. "We had stood against its privatisation and also giving its control into the hands of Abraaj capital, the present management of KESC," he added.
Meanwhile Saeed Ghani also rejected the accusation of City District Government Karachi's (CDGK) for stopping the development works due to the reduction in its developments made by the Sindh Government, as it has already received the complete fund of Rs 10533.2 million in the current fiscal year.
The fund was excluded of the coming month of June. He said that the said amount was only released to CDGK and the other funds of towns and union councils were not included. The deduction of CDGK's fund in the previous fiscal year, by the Sindh Government, as according to the share released by the federal government, was also paid to the city government, he added. He also said the total O.Z.T fund of Rs 2942.2 million had also been received by the city government.
But, he said, the 13 percent shortfall in the funds to be released from the federal government was affecting all districts of the province including Karachi and Sindh Government had nothing to with the reduction. He also alleged the stoppage of most of the development project of CDGK was due to the failure in the achievements of targeted revenue of the government.