KARACHI: Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar has opposed amendments to the powers of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s (KMC) City Council. In separate letters sent to the Sindh chief minister, the chief secretary and the Local Government Department (LGD) secretary, Akhtar has demanded restoration of powers for leasing and auctioning of lands. “In case our demands are not met, we will move court for seeking justice”, Waseem said. He said that the KMC believed that the step of amending certain sub-rules was tantamount to curbing the financial resources of the civic entity. “Powers of the KMC elected council have been truncated to facilitate certain officers in LGD,” he said. “Consequently, the citizens and prospective lessees shall have to approach LGD, thereby delaying their rightful lease, which shall open ways to corruption, malpractice and inefficient public sector procedures,” he said. “The powers have now been transferred to the LGD secretary on the recommendation of the Sindh CM,” he stated. Waseem also urged the CM to restore the powers of the mayor as the controlling authority of solid waste management, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, the Building Control Authority, the Master Plan Development and Town Planning and Urban Transport and Mass Transit. “The City Council is the largest public representative body of the city and this step by no means is constitutional,” he said.
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