Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas Local Government news

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Banned
Local zeroes

By Nadir Hassan
September 10, 2016

Waseem Akhtar will be Karachi’s least powerful mayor in recent history. The problem isn’t his incarceration. Politicians in Pakistan tend to serve long prison sentences between short spaces in power so Akhtar is just putting a down payment on a future home. His wings were clipped by the provincial government before he could learn to fly.

During the five years when Sindh was being governed by a mishmash of the commisionerate and township systems, the PPP government went about grabbing as many powers as it could– powers which previously rested with the mayor. It accelerated the process in the last year, even while first cynically delaying holding local elections and then transferring whatever powers were left to the new representatives.

In April, an amendment was added to the Sindh Local Government Act allowing the provincial government to ‘monitor’ local government representatives, which was intended to be as creepily Orwellian as it sounds. Municipal and metropolitan corporations, in a section meant to empower them, had most of that power taken away by a caveat forbidding them from carrying out duties already assigned to other agencies – which meant pretty much every conceivable power.

The PPP also wants all the trash. Last year, it set up the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board and put it under the control of the chief minister, making him the ultimate figure responsible for collecting and disposing garbage across the province and – maybe more importantly – control over the funds and assets that were previously vested in municipal and metropolitan corporations and committees. Just a week before the mayoral elections were held, the provincial government took charge of the Jam Chakro and Gond Pass landfills on paper. Then it realised that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation owed contractors about Rs180 million and declined to start operating it till the liabilities were cleared.

The nearly-toothless KMC also washed its hands off the matter. Not that the KMC would have been able to exercise any of its powers even if they hadn’t been snatched away from them. The Sindh government hasn’t bothered to follow its own local government bill and set up a financial commission to distribute money to local representatives.

Similarly, the Karachi Building Control Authority was replaced with the new Sindh Building Control Authority while the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, the Karachi, Lyari and Malir Development Authorities and the master plan department are all under the provincial government. So the PPP wants to control all land and water and all solid and liquid excrement in Karachi.

The PPP will never admit this but it at least has the realpolitik reason of wanting to keep as many powers as it can away from its MQM rivals. It has done so with ease thanks to its majority in the Sindh Assembly and without any public outcry thanks to the MQM’s ongoing pariah status.
 
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Banned
Karachi: Two illegally constructed wedding halls razed

October 07, 2016

KARACHI: The anti-encroachment department razed two illegally constructed wedding halls located in North Karachi, on Thursday.

According to details, officials of KMC's anti-encroachment department razed two illegally constructed wedding halls in North Karachi's sector 11.

Officials of the anti-encroachment cell stated that the two wedding halls were illegally constructed on a charitable plot. During the operation, a contingent of police officials were also present.
 
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Banned
Karachi, Istanbul problems relatable

21-Sep-16


KARACHI: Renowned architect Arif Hassan has said that future of Karachi lies in regions geo political situations and Karachis relations with others districts of the province.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) soon after taking over the Sindh government took control of different departments including transport and building control due to which problems of Karachi increased. Highly decentralized local body system is pivotal for Karachis progress. About 62 percent of the city still living in unplanned settlements (kachi abaadis), he said while addressing at the international conference on Managing Megacities 2016.

The conference was organized by the Department of Public Administration of the Karachi University and Shar School of Public Policy and Government of the George Mason University of the United States at the HEJ Auditorium. Informing the participants about the history of Karachi, Arif Hassan said that Karachi was the very first airport of the British India and Karachi port was the headquarters of the British Army during the first world war.

Karachi was a Hindu majority and Sindhi speaking city in 1947, migration changed Karachi into Urdu speaking and Muslim majority city in the post 1947 era, he said. The current population of Karachi is 22 million and its the fastest growing city in the world. Giving her presentation on Istanbul, a Turkish professor from Tuzin Baycan said that Istanbul was the only city in the world connecting two continents. Its the heart of the world. It has 53 universities and Turkeys national air carrier Turkish Airlines is the number one airline of Europe.

She said that the problems of Karachi and Istanbul are relatable thats why a comparison could be made between both the megacities. Dr Rashmi Sadana from the George Mason University thoroughly discussed the transportation system of Delhi, Indias national capital, who has the administrative position of a state in India. She termed Delhi Metro as a great savior for the middle class of the city since from young students to people related to every walk of life are benefited from the Delhi Metro on daily basis.

Delhi has the worst pollution of any city in India, largely due to vehicle emissions and particulate matter from building construction. The environment and pollution add to the discourse of life and death, added Dr Rashmi while discussing the pollution problem of Delhi. KU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Qaiser lauded the efforts of Prof Dr Khalid Iraqi and his instrumental role in organizing this international conference in collaboration with the George Mason University and termed it as a great academic assistance for the students.

Dr Qaiser added that megacities of the world face serious modern day challenges. The policy recommendations of this conference will be sent to the government and policy making institutions for playing a positive role towards resolving the problems of our city. Main problems of Karachi have remained unresolved because of not having of the census. Researchers and scientists are unable of conducting result oriented research on the problems of Karachi since the latest and authentic data is unavailable due to no census since last 18 years, he added.

KU Faculty of Management Sciences Dean Prof Dr Khalid Iraqi termed the partnership commendable step and added that due to the partnership our local scholars, faculty members and students get the opportunity to interact and work with the American counterparts. He also lauded the efforts of Prof Dr Abuzar Wajidi, a former focal person of the partnership and former dean of Faculty of Management Sciences, and termed his role pivotal for securing this partnership with the George Mason University through American Consulate in Karachi.

American Consulate Cultural Attach Anthony said that its just a small step towards bridging the gap between Pakistani and American people and the US government will continue its support to the educational institutions in Pakistan. George Mason Universitys Center for Social Science Research director James C Witte sharing the key findings from the Karachi Megacities survey revealed that 96 percent of the people think that higher education was one of the greatest needs of the people of Karachi while a satisfying majority i.e. 71 % was satisfied from the current higher education system.

He also termed non holding of census as a great obstacle in conclusive research on the issues of Karachi. I feel great pleasure in working with the Pakistani counterparts and the young researchers of Pakistan, he added.
 
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Banned
Vohra seeks Karachi’s due financial share

KARACHI: “The absence of a local body government for the last eight years has added to Karachi’s problems. It is ironic that 90 per cent of citizens here don’t pay municipality tax,” said deputy mayor of Karachi Arshad Vohra here on Wednesday.

He was speaking on day two of the three-day International Conference on Managing Megacities-2016 organised by the department of public administration, University of Karachi, and Schar School of Public Policy and Government, George Mason University, United States, in the HEJ auditorium on the university campus.

“The main issues of Karachi are overpopulation, traffic management, garbage collection and transportation,” he said, adding that they had been assured by the governor of Sindh and the Sindh government of financial support to manage these things.

“Transportation projects such as the Greenline Rapid Transport System are commendable but such projects must have been initiated years before,” he said.

“On a daily basis, Karachi produces 12,000 tonnes of garbage and the KMC is capable of lifting only 4,000 tonnes per day. Due to this gap billions of tonnes of garbage is just lying around in the city. We all must own Karachi and we all must positively contribute to resolving the issues of our city to make Karachi one of the world’s greatest cities,” he said while adding that the local government, soon after taking charge of its duties, was working positively to improve the performance of every local body institution.

“Karachi is Pakistan’s biggest city. It has a literacy rate of more than 70 per cent but it is a victim of financial injustices. Karachi is not being given its due financial share since it contributes 98pc of the tax revenue collected by the Sindh government. We are in dialogue with the Sindh government to get the deserved financial share of Karachi in this regard,” the deputy mayor said.

KU geography department chairman Prof Dr Jamil Hasan Kazmi in his keynote address on ecology lamented that environment and marine life preservation had never been a priority of our decision makers due to lack of political commitment. “There is surplus water in Karachi but a water crisis emerges due to the mismanagement of the local authorities. Open-head water tanks are the greatest breeding places for dengue mosquitoes,” he said.

Syeda Hoor-ul-Ain from the KU’s department of public administration, while presenting her paper, said that Karachi as a megacity faced huge transport challenges ranging from rampant urbanisation and limited budgets to inefficient infrastructures. “The issues of over-crowding, traffic congestion and poor quality of service and ill-fitness of the vehicles are the emerging challenges in the transportation sector,” she said while revealing that 79pc of the respondents said that the poor quality of public buses added to stress, which in turn affected their productivity and effectiveness at work.

She also shared data that 68pc of the respondents indicated that public buses were unreliable, insecure and overcrowded. In particular, 55pc of the women respondents who commute by public buses said that they felt insecure and faced sexual harassment in Karachi, with East district rated as the most unsafe area for women commuters.

“Gender equality is growing at a faster pace at work and education in Karachi. There is an increasing number of women who leave for work and education from their homes. Provision of limited space in public transport for women commuters has become a major impediment in their mobility. Other women mobility issues include longer hours of waiting for the bus,” she said.

Faculty members of KU’s department of public administration Mustafa Hyder and Tehmina Faisal while presenting their papers said provision of clean water and sanitation facilities was a crucial aspect of governmental administrative institutions around the globe. This governmental responsibility becomes exceptionally critical in megacities such as Karachi where resource management and distribution are not just sustainable and consistent patterns of operational implementation. Rather they required systematically-engineered plans and projects based on contemporary standards of construction, delivery and maintenance mechanisms. Poor quality of public water supply can lead to social instability and a high level of stress.

Zohair Ashir from Hisaar Foundation said that today Karachi is the seventh largest city in the world with a population of over 22 million people. “As the years have passed, the realities of water availability, water regime, population growth and climate conditions have changed considerably here. However, there has been no change in the ways that people use and manage water. The current water demand of Karachi is 1.1 billion gallons per day but the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, the main municipal water utility in the city, can only supply 550MGD. As a result of increased migration into the city and significant population growth, this gap will only become wider,” he said.

Published in Dawn September 22nd, 2016
 
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Banned
The powerless mayor of Karachi

January 07, 2016

Millions of people have inconvenienced themselves with their votes on December 5 with hopes that Karachi will soon be rid of all the shame, incompetence and corruption brought upon by ill-governance. The past KMC administration, which had the utter tutelage of urban and rural political leadership for almost a decade of bad governance, has also been atrophied by losing its core functions like Master Planning, Water Board, Building Control, Solid Waste, Health and Education by the provincial government, thereby making it completely a toothless and inefficient body.

The current local government system in Pakistan, resurrected by the Supreme Court, lacks a national policy and has been pitchforked into dormancy. It only aims at reducing the legitimate powers of a local government and concentrating all powers within provincial domain - and Karachi is no exception to it.

The mayor of Karachi, having taken oath, will surely be hit by the epiphany that all the valuable and prime functions have been done away with, and he is mayor of the city in name only. For example, Sindh Solid Waste Management Board has been created thereby taking away the sanitation and garbage removal functions from the local government control.

The five amendments in quick successions in the Sindh Building Control Ordinance 1979 in last few years have deprived KMC of its prime functions like Planning and Building Control that have always remained an integral part of local government functions. Through these functions it not only maps the need for allied civic functions including water, sewage, sanitation, drainage and other infrastructure in the light of master planning, but also creates an ample source of own source revenue from creating commercial zones and developing more residential spaces for its subjects. Denying the KMC of these functions is defeating the local government system.

Likewise, the KW&SB is presently being governed by Minister, Local Government as its chairman, who would not let the local government representatives intervene into their business. In contrast, in SLGO 2001, the mayor had the ultimate jurisdiction on the affairs of KW&SB. The existing local government system in Sindh and Punjab deprives the local government system of health and education functions which were once major port folio of Metropolitans in respective provincial local government ordinances.

The KMC mayor shall face financial crises immediately after taking oath. Its own source income is nothing more than Rs 200 million per month while its employees related allowances far exceed Rs 1000 million a month. The government of Sindh is already filling in the gap by extending grant in aid over Rs 850 million per month including the OZT monthly share, just to let KMC survive. It would be a herculean task for the mayor to raise its own source revenue to the level where KMC could not look at the Government of Sindh for funds. The other problems the mayor shall be facing, related to thousands of inefficient work force which the previous administrators and Nazims have recruited in KMC.

Three full-fledged Local Government Acts and over a dozen amendments in local government system have been introduced in Sindh during the last five years. The purpose of this legal expediency appears nothing more than clipping the powers of local government representatives and aiming at centralising more powers in the second tier of the government, ie, the provincial government.

Having maintained the structure of Provincial Local Government Ordinance 2001, the KPK has added many more functions to strengthen its grass root level administration. Anywhere else in Pakistan the local government system portrays a bleak picture simply because it has been stripped of the above mentioned relevant municipal functions.

In the Punjab, specially Lahore, the situation is similar to Karachi where core functions of Lahore City District Government (LCDG) like parks and horticulture have been entrusted to Lahore Park and Horticulture Authority; the Sanitation functions have been assigned to Lahore Waste Management Board; the small roads are being constructed by Khadim-e-Aala Punjab Special Initiative Programme; the Water and Sewerage Board Lahore is separate independent authority, and Master Planning is also not in the domain of the Lahore City District Government. The mayor of Lahore therefore shall be a powerless king only.

Thus, making a local government system a weak one in Punjab and Sindh is nothing short of concocted plan to keep more powers in the upper government framework. Frederic Bastiat rightly said, "When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorises it and a moral code of that glorifies it."

The challenge Local Government Election 2015 would bring for provincial governments is to develop a full-fledged Provincial Finance Commission, devise a plan to lighten the burden of appointment on the strength of local councils and create a separate development portfolio for these councils as lack of authority, paucity of funds and very narrow space to function on the part of local government representatives may prove counterproductive and fears are rife in the intelligentsia that this rift of authority between provincial government and the local councils may create more division especially in Karachi's context.(The writer works in the government of Sindh)


Copyright Business Recorder, 2016
 
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Banned
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Banned
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link: http://e.jang.com.pk/10-09-2016/karachi/pic.asp?picname=191756

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link: http://e.jang.com.pk/10-09-2016/karachi/pic.asp?picname=191744

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link: http://epaper.dawn.com/DetailNews.php?StoryText=09_10_2016_118_007

 
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Banned
Difficult task ahead


October 10, 2016


The newly elected Karachi Metropolitan Corporation city council met for the first time since its election a few weeks ago, with its mayor, Waseem Akhtar of the MQM, who is under arrest, missing from the session. The local government system has been restored only recently on court orders, and against resistance presented by provincial governments after it was pushed aside in 2010. The KMC council has a particularly difficult task ahead of it. In the first place, the MQM, which forms the majority within the council, has been badly jolted by recent developments. The real test for the council lies not only in working without an active mayor but also in tackling the gargantuan problems of Karachi.


We all know this can only happen if the political divide in the city is settled to a point where it does not disturb administrative working or the lives of citizens. The parties represented in the council, including the PPP, ANP and JI have said they will work together for this purpose. We can only hope this turns out to be an accurate reflection of actions ahead. What is crucial is that the ordinary law-enforcement forces in the city be empowered and freed of corruption, so that police and the judicial system can act as the main forces tackling terror and crime in the city. The role of the Rangers in this has complicated matters in many ways. The new council must then work towards this and also to tackle the host of other problems including land grabbing and the work of other mafias which has turned the city into a zone of violent crime. These are indeed enormous challenges. The many committees, set up to deal with issues which include property matters and extortion, will first of all need to carefully do their homework and then devise a plan to bring together a city that has been torn apart and left essentially to bleed as its structures grow weaker by the day.


Nisar Abbasi


Karachi
 
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Banned
KMC demands Rs 742m for pending pensions

10-Oct-16

KARACHI: Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has demanded advance funds of Rs 742 million from the government of Sindh to retire 7-year pending pensions of its 1330 employees.

Municipal Commissioner has written a letter to GoS in this regard stating the retired employees of KMC, District Municipal Corporations, and Karachi District Councils are facing hardships due to this issue.

"Retired employees and pensioners are daily approaching concerned departments for settlement of their legitimate dues to resolve their chronic financial problems," stated the letter.

He added that at present 1330 claims of retired employees and pensioners regarding Pension Commutation, Gratuity, Family Pension, Restoration, Cost of living Allowance (for 7 person), and 300 Ad-hoc Relief Allowance amount to Rs 742 million.

Municipal Commissioner said a case was filed by employees' union of KMC in this regard and Sindh High Court vide its decision/order on March 18th this year directed GoS and KMC to resolve this pending issue. A high level committee meeting under Commissioner Karachi was also held to resolve this issue of pensions.

Various meetings were held in Commissioner Office attended by Commissioner Karachi, Secretary Finance, Secretary Local Government, Financial advisor of KMC, and others.

Municipal Commissioner through a summary to secretary Local Government, Chief Minister and Finance Department of GoS stated that a monthly installment of Rs 40 million under Monthly Special Grant-in Aid could be deducted from the demanded amount.

"The funds of Rs 742 million may be adjusted from Monthly Special Grant-in Aid to KMC in 18 installments from monthly salaries to KMC. Chief Minister Sindh is requested to grant approval for this advance payment," stated the letter of Municipal Commissioner.
 
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Banned
Split aftermath: Tug of war between KDA, KMC intensifies

KARACHI: After the split between the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), the ongoing tug of war for possession of various properties between the two institutions has intensified as the latter is being forced to vacate most of its offices.

The staffers of the recently revived KDA are ‘slowly and gradually taking over’ Civic Centre, which was originally the head office of the KDA before it was merged with the KMC in the new local bodies systems of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK), was introduced and implemented during General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s government over 15 years ago.

In a recent move, the KDA has asked KMC, through a series of letters, to immediately hand over the bungalow at the Central Ordinance Depot (COD) – known as the KMC’s camp office – to the KDA. However, the KMC has refused to do so. After the KDA’s revival, KMC officers have already been asked by KDA director-general Syed Nasir Abbas to vacate the Civic Centre building.

The process of takeover started in the mid of June when Abbas – who was the senior director of KDA wing – was given the additional charge of the KDA director-general by the Sindh government and he started sitting in the office in which the KMC administrator used to sit.

When the then administrator of the KMC, Laeeq Ahmed, came to know that his office has been occupied by KDA director-general Nasir Abbas, he quietly shifted to the administrator’s camp office located behind the National Stadium.

War of letters

Now that the elected mayor is in place, the KDA has also claimed possession of the camp office. According to the first letter written by Abbas regarding the matter on October 3, when the KDA was separated with its water wing and Karachi Water and Sewage Board (KWB) was formed, the KDA retained few residential premises from the water board, among which were the VVIP Rest House and the bungalow at the COD Hills.

“During the martial law regime, the VVIP Rest House at COD Hills remained in use of the Deputy Martial Law Administrator (DMLA), Karachi, thereafter, it was taken over by the Government of Sindh and now it is officially allocated to the Director General, Pakistan Rangers, Sindh,” the letter read. It further explained that on creation of the CDGK, the bungalow presently in use of the KWSB managing director was allotted to the then City Nazim of Karachi but later, due to security reasons, was exchanged with the bungalow presently being used as KMC’s camp office.

“On the revival of the KDA, a request was made to the administrator [of] KMC, Laeeq Ahmed, to kindly handover the physical possession of the Bungalow (Camp Office) to the KDA,” read the letter. The administrator, according to the letter, verbally promised to hand over the possession of the camp office to the KDA but couldn’t maintain his commitments and handed over the possession to the municipal commissioner of KMC, Badar Jamil.

“In such a situation, it is requested to hand over the physical possession of the bungalow to KDA immediately to avoid any legal complication, please,” the letter ended on this note.

In a response to this, Jamil wrote back on October 4 that the matter was discussed with Local Government Minister Jam Khan Shoro by the deputy mayor, Arshad Vohra, and Shoro has allowed Vohra “to use the accommodation as camp office till further notice in the larger interest of smooth functioning of KMC.”

On October 5, KDA again hit back through a letter. “It is requested to note that the name of [the] minister as quoted in your letter is totally unfounded as no instructions have been passed on to the undersigned so far,” said the letter.

The letter further added that since the matter is official between the two civic bodies, it should be dealt at officers’ level without involving elected representatives. “It is pointed out that some officers of KMC are playing mischievous role and creating problem for the superior hierarchy of KMC,” it read.

Partial settlement?

Meanwhile, Jamil told The Express Tribune that the KMC and KDA have come to a settlement with respect to the division of properties between the two agencies. He said that the Civic Centre building’s first four floors will be under KDA’s use while KMC will run its operations from the sixth floor till the tenth floor. As for the Camp Office, he claimed that the KDA has a misunderstanding and the building belongs to the KMC.

However, a long-serving officer of the KDA denied any such settlement. The officer said that a meeting between Nasir and Jamil was held last week, in which it was decided that by October 14, KMC will vacate first the four floor floors of the Civic Centre building. After that, he said, the fifth floor will be vacated by the KMC by October 31. He added that the KMC will vacate floors six to 10 by November. As for the Camp Office, the official said that it belongs to the KDA and the KMC will have to vacate it at any cost.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11th, 2016.
 
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Banned
Money problems: KMC’s health services dept owes contractors Rs350m

Published: October 11, 2016

KARACHI: The medical and health services department of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) owes Rs350 million to its various suppliers, KMC medical and health services senior director Dr Muhammad Ali Abbasi told The Express Tribune.

He claimed that the total amount has been accumulated over a period of four years. According to Abbasi, the department does not have funds to purchase medicines and to repair or replace old equipment in hospitals running under the KMC.

Hence, the department requires special annual grant from the Sindh government, he added.

To cope up with the crisis, Abbasi said that the department had moved a summary last week for the annual grant of Rs600 million to resolve the pending issues of hospitals that are running under the KMC. According to him, the department is running 13 hospitals throughout the metropolis, which have a total 2,000 beds.

Abbasi claimed that the grant of Rs177 million, which was given to the KMC’s health department last month, was used to solve the issue of lack of equipment in Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, while the rest was used in purchasing medical supplies for other hospitals. He added that the restoration of certain facilities, such as CT-scan, MRI Scan, X-Ray films, availability of drugs, bandages, syringes, laboratory kits and drips, have been acquired for the hospitals running under the KMC.

Other pending issues have still to be resolved, said Abbasi, adding that the six months’ pending salaries of house officers and residents working in Abbasi Shaheed Hospital will be released within 10 days. The hospital’s house officers and residents have not been paid for the last nine months.

Abbasi believes that the crisis can only be solved if the Sindh government keeps on issuing regular grants to the KMC’s medical and health services department in the future. He said that handing over the hospitals under the KMC to Sindh government’s health department cannot resolve the issues of the patients, doctors and staff.

A large portion of the budget is spent on paying salaries due to overemployment in the KMC, claimed Abbasi. He added that the medical and health services budget is mentioned in the budget book of the KMC but the sanctioned amount has not been released.

Abbasi believes that it is their responsibility to do good governance but without enough resources it is not possible for them to deliver health facilities to the citizens.

However, Abbasi thanked Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah for approving the previous grant, which has now been utilised. Furthermore, he said that the additional grant, whose summary has been sent to the provincial government, can improve the condition by ending the financial crisis up to some level.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11th, 2016.
 
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Banned
LG representatives trained in conflict resolution, prevention methods

October 12, 2016

Being a multicultural city and economic hub of the country, Karachi has been affected by violence, crime, and injustice over the past decades. With the ongoing operation bringing peace back in the city to great extent, civil society organisations working on peace-building practices and countering violent extremism are now been focusing on the potential of local governments.

The Sustainable Peace and Development Organisation (SPADO) is among those civil society organisations, which trained over 150 local government representatives of three districts – South, West and Central – who were elected in December 2015. All of them were from different political backgrounds.

Abubakr Yousafzai, an outreach coordinator at the SPADO in Karachi, said the training offered to newly elected representatives enhanced the skills and knowledge in conflict resolution (dialogue, negotiation, communication skills) and conflict prevention. “The training included explaining and highlighting the role of local government representatives in promoting peace, tolerance and interfaith harmony in local communities as mentioned in the Sindh Local Government Act,” Yousafzai told The News.

The Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, reads, “A corporation, municipal committee or town committee may, and if so required by the government, shall adopt any other measures likely to promote cultural values, mutual tolerance and interfaith harmony.”

In another section of the functions of the district council, it is clearly mentioned that they should “promote tolerance and interfaith harmony” and “promote social, civic and patriotic virtues among the people and discouraging of parochial, racial, tribal, sectarian and provincial prejudices.”

Yousafzai maintained that the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) was one of the most transparent, speedy and economically viable mechanism of conflict resolution.

The SPADO in partnership with Karachi Youth Initiative started a project “Promoting Community Based Dispute Resolution Through Training of Local Government Representatives” in order to highlight and improve the skills of Karachi local government officials in conflict management; which aims to build the capacities of newly elected local government representatives of Karachi to prevent and resolve violent conflicts at the local level and to promote genuine, sustainable peace through formal and informal mechanisms. At the same time, advocacy was carried out to develop trust and cooperation between state institutions, local government and communities for a greater and more effective role in conflict management and prevention.

Moreover, the project also focused on and contributed towards improving collaboration and coordination among local government representatives other stakeholders and local communities to manage conflicts at community level. In this regard, advocacy and networking meetings were held with local government officials and civil society organisations.

In the start of October, leaders of various political parties, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNA Dr Arif Ali, deputy head of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-Fazl Sindh Qari Muhamamd Usman, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Saifuddin Advocate, and Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Hanif Surti attended a seminar organised by SPADO. All of them emphasised on the need of the ADR and conflict resolution trainings for the elected representatives for entire country.

JUI-F’s Usman said local government representatives and political leaders should be trained to resolve the cases of domestic violence, property and monetary issues, which were on the rise in low-income neighbourhoods of the city. “Neighbourhood-level meditation committees would be an appropriate forum to resolve these issues locally, instead of registering FIRs against each other. If we got elected, our top priority would be to set up an active mediation committee comprising elected representatives, religious clerics, police and community elders,” he said.
 
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Banned

Funds shortage : KMC, DMCs demand special grant from govt to fix faulty vehicles

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KARACHI: Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and all the six District Municipal Corporations (DMCs) have expressed their inability to clean the metropolis until the Sindh government issues special grant for repair of their faulty vehicles that are used in garbage collection.

More than half of the vehicles that are used in garbage collection in all the DMCs and KMC are out of order and need special package or funds from the Sindh government to fix them. The KMC’s municipal commissioner, Badar Jamil, told The Express Tribune that they have around 25 vehicles, which are completely out of order and need massive repair work.



KARACHI: Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and all the six District Municipal Corporations (DMCs) have expressed their inability to clean the metropolis until the Sindh government issues special grant for repair of their faulty vehicles that are used in garbage collection.

More than half of the vehicles that are used in garbage collection in all the DMCs and KMC are out of order and need special package or funds from the Sindh government to fix them. The KMC’s municipal commissioner, Badar Jamil, told The Express Tribune that they have around 25 vehicles, which are completely out of order and need massive repair work.



For the last five years, said Jamil, they haven’t received any special grant from the government for the purpose and are thus not able to repair their vehicles. He claimed that the KMC is already a defaulter and is not in the position to take further loans.

Lack of vehicles

The DMCs, which have the prime responsibility of garbage collection in their respective districts, have been facing immense shortage of vehicles. According to the DMC East’s Machine Pool Depot director, Mobin Shaikh, the DMC has around 100 vehicles, out of which 40 are out of order. He said that around 700 tons of garbage is generated on a daily basis in the East district and they are able to lift only 300 tons of it.

Meanwhile, a chairman of the Union Committee in East district, requesting anonymity, said that whatever grant they receive from the government in the form of Octroi Zila Tax is used in paying salaries to their staff and they are left with nothing to use for development work. The official claimed that recently, they repaired a few of the vehicles on their own for Eidul Azha and Muharram.

DMC Central chairman Rehan Hashmi, who belongs to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), said that around 75% of their vehicles used for garbage collection in District Central are out of order. “We have asked the Sindh government to either provide us with vehicles for the time being or repair our vehicles on their own if they are not ready to issue us any grant,” he said. Hashmi added that the district generates 3,500 tons of garbage every day and they are only able to lift 1,500 to 1,700 tons.

DMC Korangi chairman Nayyar Raza, who is also from the MQM, said that out of 100 vehicles, only 25 are out on the roads collecting garbage. When the City District Government Karachi was abolished in 2010, all of their vehicles were on the roads functioning properly, he said. In the last six years, he said, most of their vehicles have become scrap and no fund is being issued by the Sindh government for maintenance.

Raza added that now they will need to buy new vehicles as it is useless to repair the old ones that are in poor condition. Similarly, Pakistan Peoples Party’s elected chairman for District South, Malik Muhammad Fayaz, said that out of 192 vehicles in his district, 30 to 40 garbage collection vehicles are completely damaged to the point that they cannot be repaired.

Even though he agreed that they are facing shortage of funds, Faraz said that the DMC can arrange funds from its own local taxes. For major repair work, he said, they have written to the Sindh government for special grants. According to him, around 1,200 tons of garbage is generated in District South daily, out of which 1,000 tons is only transferred to the landfill sites.

Meanwhile, no officials of DMC Malir and DMC West were available for comments. Local government secretary Baqaullah Unar did not respond despite repeated phone calls.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2016
 
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Banned
KMC’s waste collection, transportation role abolished

15-Oct-16

KARACHI: Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) has abolished the role of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) to collect and transport waste as part of their up-gradation of solid waste management system in the city.

But the board allowed all six districts municipal corporations (DMCs) to collect and dispose of the waste in their jurisdictions. The board also demanded through a proposal 5 to 6 billion rupees per annum from the provincial government to better the system.

In addition, Rs 600 million would be required for lifting 3000 tonnes (per day) backlog of waste from certified places. In next 12 months, SSWMB would complete its process and under the scope of waste collection, transportation and disposal management, DMCs would carry out collection and disposal job of the city's waste.

Till then, ad hoc/interim arrangements would be made through DMCs/SSWMB to handle around 12,000 tonnes of waste daily. After two years, when the citizens of Karachi would feel the change the SSWMB under a formula would ask citizens to pay for the waste disposal according to the area economic standings.

And then, the SSWMB's proposal stated, the government can stop funding. It is worth adding here that DMCs and KMC at present are spending around Rs 5.5 billion per annum on the disposal of waste as 4330 employees of KMC are working in the waste department costing the corporation Rs 515 million per annum in terms of their salaries.
 
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