Democracy in developed societies is based on an active, stable and empowered local government system, the continuation of which strengthens the parliamentary or presidential system and makes the society prosperous. But unfortunately in Pakistan, the elites did not allow the local government system to flourish for their own interests.
After the procrastination of the Sindh government, the intervention of the judiciary and the strict attitude of the Election Commission, the PPP-led provincial government seems to be ready for the local body elections in the province.
However, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is still trying to maintain its policy of seizing resources, which is why the provincial government, despite strong opposition, passed the Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2021, in the Sindh Assembly by a majority vote.
If we look at the contents of this bill, it seems that this legislation is a nefarious conspiracy to squander the remaining resources of Karachi and its implementation may completely paralyze Karachi.
The bill primarily takes away functions of education and health from municipal bodies. It also abolishes district municipal corporations (DMCs) in urban parts of the province, replacing them with town municipal corporations. However, the authority of local government in the fields of education and health, including the issuance of birth and death certificates and infectious diseases, has been transferred to provincial government.
According to the amendment bill, the metropolitan corporation will be established in a city with a population of 5 million, and the term of the members of this town municipality will be four years. The mayor will be elected by secret ballot instead of open ballot. The people of Karachi have been deprived of their remaining powers through the new local government system of Sindh government.
As per the seven-page document, it seems that the new law will not completely empower the Karachi mayor, leaving him or her at the mercy of the provincial government, while key municipal functions such as water, solid waste management, building control, etc will not completely be under the elected mayor’s control.
Another important feature of this 7-page law is that the PPP government was ready to restore the town system in the province. Under the law that was enacted in the PPP government after continuous deliberation, there is division of 7 Municipal Corporations – South, East, West, Malir, Korangi and Kemari. As per the law, citizens can get jobs in their respective district from grade 1 to 15 but now the new legislation will hinder the process.
The development of Karachi is the development of Pakistan. However, history shows that the problems that arose here in the 80’s affected the whole country. Interestingly, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail has refused to sign the amendment bill and directed the government to review it.
There is no doubt that Karachi is the backbone of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. When we compare Karachi and Dubai, these two cities look alike in terms of their location or design. But at the moment Dubai is far ahead of Karachi in terms of development, unfortunately knowing that even if 400 billion out of 4000 billion is spent, this city will earn 40,000 billion in return.
When the Supreme Court Karachi Registry heard the case of occupation of welfare plots and illegal allotment in Karachi, it was revealed that China cutting of 35,000 plots was done, guess how ruthlessly it may have been looted. The Sindh government has laid its paws on all the important institutions of Karachi.
The people of Karachi are still deprived of clean water, the entire sewerage system has become inefficient, the Solid Waste Department has also been taken over from Karachi Municipality and its resources have been seized by naming Sindh Solid Waste. If the past of this city was glorious then the present has become execrable and if this continues then the future looks even more terrible.
