PSP unveils six-point plan to resolve Karachi’s socio-economic and administrative issues

Pak Sarzameen Party Chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal has put forward a six-point plan to resolve the lingering socio-economic and administrative issues of Karachi.

He shared the plan at a press conference at the PSP head office on Tuesday morning. The plan is as follows:

1. If the census is conducted in a transparent manner, the population of Karachi will turn out to be around 30 million. As a result, the number of seats in the national and provincial assemblies of Karachi should be increased. With a population of 36 million, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has 64 National Assembly seats, while a number of intellectuals and writers, including the chief justice of Pakistan, have said that Karachi’s population is by no means less than 30 million.

2. Under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, where the district city and the union council were supposed to be autonomous, the chief ministers have become independent under the guise of provincial autonomy. At present, it’s at the discretion of the chief minister to decide whether or not to fund a district. Kamal recommended transfer of these powers and resources to the lowest level, i.e. of district, town, tehsil and UC levels.

3. The NFC award fund is spent by the chief minister on his own will. This money is not reaching the district, town and UC levels. Therefore, Kamal recommended that PFC award should be launched on the same formula as the NFC so that the funds could reach the districts, towns and UCs of the province. The federal government should play its role in this regard. Funds received by the provinces from the federation are not the CM’s private resources; they are of the people of this province, and they should be transferred to the grassroots level in the larger public interest.

4. The chief minister of Sindh’s decision of merging the Master Plan Department with the Sindh Building Control Authority in 2013 should be annulled. The department should be restored to its original status of an independent and autonomous body. The CM’s move is like the watchman has been subordinated to the thief.

5. The division of Karachi into seven districts should be abolished and previous status of one district and 18 towns should be rehabilitated. Karachi has always been a district which the PPP, in view of its traditional bigotry and political interests, cut off the administrative connection of one district with another. If a nalla passes through two different districts and if one portion is cleaned while the other is not, then nothing will be achieved. The PPP’s justification that people had a problem with government offices being far away is not correct because previously there were towns and all their work was done through elected representatives sitting in their areas and the town offices were closer to the district offices.

6. There should be one head of municipal services of the city. All 18 municipal services of cantonment board, DHA, KPT, Port Qasim, MDA, Site Limited, Railways, Civil Aviation and other should be de-notified in compliance with the Supreme Court orders, and be made a part of the city district government headed by an elected city mayor. In this case, land control will remain with all concerned agencies.

PSP President Anis Kaim Khani and members of the Central Executive Committee and National Council of the party were also present on the occasion.

Kamal further said that people should be pleased with the end of the local bodies’ tenure. The PSP has been providing an advance notice of every issue and also offering workable solutions for the last four years.

In 2017, Kamal said they had staged a sit-in outside the Karachi Press Club for 18 consecutive days and presented a 16-point plan which, if implemented, would have made things different today.

The chief minister has repeatedly tried to make people believe that today’s Karachi, which is one of the four worst living cities in the world in terms of globalisation today, is far better than it was 10 years back when the World Economic Forum included Karachi amongst the 12th fastest growing cities in the world, he said, adding that today, the chief minister says with innocence that the city is facing a lot of problems due to high-rise buildings.

“Since 2008, there has not been a single construction in Karachi whose fee has not reached PPP elders through Manzoor Kaka. The chief minister himself signed the master plan under the Building Control Authority in 2013. Even if the city is dilapidated, the job of the rulers is not to read the news but to solve problems.”

Kamal said there had been a PPP government in Sindh for 12 years, but why nothing had been done. He lashed out at former Karachi mayor Wasim Akhtar, saying as to why the 2001 Local Government Ordinance was thrown into dustbin If the powers were needed.

The power of universities, including matriculation and inter-boards, was taken away from the governor, he said.

The PSP chief said the MQM was now fanning an ethnic fire to cover up its worst performance in the last four years, while the PPP was doing the same to cover up its 12-year performance so that people re-vote them without thinking consciously in the face of anger and emotion.

Neither the MQM can make a province nor the PPP is saving the motherland, Sindh, but both are befooling people, he said, adding that while Karachi was submerged, the PPP “found a solution to the problems and formed the seventh District”. He questioned if milk streams were flowing in District Malir and District South.

If the PPP offered ministries to the MQM again, they [MQM] would forget the slogan of a new province and be wearing caps and Ajraks.

The PPP benefited the most from the slogan of the province, he said and asked the masses not to abuse each other especially on social media as Sindhis and Mohajirs, about the PPP and MQM’s malicious agenda.

Kamal said the PSP would soon issue a white paper against the performance of outgoing local governments.