Treasury members of the City Council reiterated their demands of the reinstatement of all secretaries of Union Councils (UCs) at their pre-October 28, position, to run the UCs offices, who were recently withdrawn/transferred by the Sindh government.
Treasury members accused the provincial government of disrupting the affairs of all UCs in the city through transferring its secretaries without alternative arrangements. Addressing a media briefing at Old KMC Building on Wednesday, Asif Siddiqui, who is also leader of the house in the City Council, said that the day to day affairs of 134 UCs have practically been disturbed due to the sudden withdrawal of the non-Sindh Councils Unified Grade (SUCG) cadre secretaries by a notification DO (M&E) Local Government Board, Government of Sing dated October 28, 2009.
Through the notification, he said, not only the secretaries were removed from their respective offices but also the bank accounts of all UCs have been frozen for the last one month, which has stopped all kinds of development works of the councils.
Asif said that in the absence of secretaries, the issuance of marriage/divorce/birth/death and other related certificates has also stopped in the UCs, which, according to section 76 of Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001, was against the basic rights of the people. He further said that the move was aimed to fail the City District Government Karachi's (CDGK) drive of lifting and disposal of offal during Eid-ul-Azha.
However, provincial government, he said, had asked the UC secretaries to submit their documents of all employees for any possible adjustment/ promotion but the UCs could not send the same in absence of concerned secretaries. He said that all issues have been discussed in a forum, made to solve the bilateral disputes between Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) but the issue related to secretaries was yet to be resolved at the forum.
He said the matter has already been discussed with Siraj Durrani, provincial minister for local government. On the other hand, opposition members, in a separate press conference, rejected the allegation that the provincial government was responsible for the sudden transfer of secretaries. They said these secretaries, falling under the non-SUCG cadre, were transferred from the Octroi Department to UCs had been sent to their mother department through a court order.
Jumman Darwan, deputy opposition leader of Awam Dost Panel in City Council, said that through an order of High Court of Sindh, Circuit Court Hyderabad, the provincial government had transferred these non-SCUG Cadre employees, who were working in SCUG Cadre at UC offices, to their parent departments with their previous cadre.
He also condemned certain group of media, which was busy insulting the traditional Sindhi cap, for being worn by President Zardari. Rafeeque Ahmed, from Alkhidmat Group, also condemned the incidents of snatching of hides and other terrorist acts during the Eid in various parts of the city.
Adjournment of the Council's Session Soon after the start, the session the house on Wednesday, which was held at City Council Hall at Old KMC Building with Naib Nazim Nasrin Jalil in the chair, at 12:10 pm, was adjourned for 30 minutes for lack of quorum.
The number of the council members in the beginning was around 91 against the required number of 117 but after the session was resumed after 30 minutes, at least 14 members had added. For not having a required quorum, the convenor adjourned the session to meet again on Saturday, December 12, at 2:30 pm. Earlier, the house offered Fateha for an MPA of NWFP assembly, who was assassinated in terrorist attack in Swat on Tuesday, and prayed for good health of all those who were ill.