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JUNE
2009
ISSUES:
Poverty
reduction: rhetoric and the reality
She
neatly braided hair of her daughter, Marium, 10. Shahina’s two
toddlers sat in her lap and the rest of three children were twisting and
turning on the Ralli (padded bed sheet) spread on the footpath, on a
bright June Karachi morning.
What drove her family out of the privacy of home on a street? Answer is:
abject poverty.
Her husband claims to be a motorcycle mechanic. The family migrated to
Karachi from Multan last year and has been living on the side path next
to Zamzama Park at Neelum Colony in Karachi. Jewa, the mechanic told
Dawn that his unsteady low income has forced him to migrate and live off
road. He had to also to give away one of his daughters who was fussy. It
was not clear if the child was sold or given in care of a prosperous
family.
Jeva’s family has been surviving for the last about a year on
generosity of the residents of the locality. He was not willing to leave
the place and move to some shanty settlement where his equals live as it
would deprive him of alms and material help that he manages here to
sustain his big family of small children. Where even bare sustenance is
uncertain, education cannot be on agenda. The health and hygiene of the
family is up to the readers to imagine. This is a perfect example how
economic hardships render even a semi-skilled worker, who could have
been supporting his family, into a parasite living off on others’
fruits of labour.
The poverty survey is not out as yet but the IFI’s estimated poverty
has risen by over 10 per cent in just last two years falling anywhere
between 33 to 36 per cent. It makes up over fifty million people.
The allocation to poverty related programme at consolidated Rs245
billion (BISP Rs70 billion, IDPs Rs50 billion, health 30 billion,
education Rs61 billion, population welfare Rs4 billion) in a federal
budget of Rs2.48 trillion is a pittance of what is required to address
the issues of social exclusion. The misguided stabilisation strategy in
a shrinking economy, pursued in 2008-09 under IMF tutelage drove
thousands like Jeva out of their homes and in the streets to suffer.
The government does not contest that poverty is increasing. Over the
last two years, people were retrenched in thousands from shrinking
industrial and other business concerns.
The self-employed petty workers such as small time mechanics, tuition
teachers, beauticians, etc are unable to cope with rising costs and
declining demand for their services joined the swelling numbers of
unemployed. People had to pull their children out from many small
private schools which were closed.
Workers lost jobs in construction activities; media workers settled for
half their wages as media houses readjusted with fall in advertising
revenues; hundreds of lower staff was driven out of brokerage houses and
mutual fund industry.
Young and educated mounted a search for patrons in political parties as
their friends and relatives failed to find them placement. If crime rate
has increased, you need not look far for an explanation.
Shaukat Tarin, de facto finance minister, in the post- budget press
conference, said: “There is special focus on social sector development
and poverty alleviation and the government is planning to enhance
expenditure on education, health and infrastructure development. We are
devising a strategy to increase budget to health and education sector to
about 7-8 per cent of the GDP during the next five years. The support
offered by the friends of democratic Pakistan would be spent on these
sectors”.
Tarin blamed the last regime for irresponsible behaviour that aggravated
macro economic challenges for the current government. He mentioned
global economic crisis particularly commodity and oil price escalation
for added woes of economic managers who were forced to slash development
spending to achieve stability. The advisor boasted of his policies that
reigned in the trend of rising inflation and controlling deficits beside
apt agriculture pricing mechanism that led the sector to perform better
than expected. He and his advisors had no explanation why less than
appropriate allocations were made for social sector. They avoided giving
out the comparable measure of allocations to the social sector in the
budget. The budget speech of Hina Rabbani Khar or the budget brief
provided to the media did not show the allocations as percentage of GDP.
The advisor was not able to give a satisfactory reply to a question on
the Millennium Development Goals that failed to find even passing
reference in the budget.
In the absence of progress report, no one can tell where the country
stands against bench marks set for the last three years. It is not so
difficult to guess though. Pakistan was at the bottom among its peers in
the region when the economy was growing at six per cent and above.
The last millennium report assessed progress vis a vis goals and targets
made in the year 2006. The queries made by Dawn revealed that the
democratic government rendered the Centre for Research on Poverty
Reduction and Income Distribution, a project under the Planning
Commission redundant by replacing the staff with a set of political
appointees who have not been able to bring out a single report. “It is
not wise to undermine the power of an informed mass of people. It is
naïve to try to test their patience by ignoring their concerns
indefinitely. No power intrigues worked. In the end it was the street
power that clinched the reigns of government from the military rule and
passed it on to an elected dispensation”, said a political economist.
“People displayed great restraint and endured pain all through 2008-09
to give the democratic government a chance to right the wrongs. The
democratic goodwill, however, must not be taken for granted. There is
need for Gilani government to display greater sensitivity to the
problems faced by the multitude. If people can install a government they
can also bulldoze it” concluded the commentator.
The senior government functionaries find the analysis too harsh on a
government struggling with worsening security situation and a still
harsher international economic environment. “It is easy to trash all
efforts of the government but difficult to deliver under constraints
that the democratic government works. Yes allocation to the social
sector might not be enough but low inflation will improve the purchasing
capacity of poor families and transparent system of distribution of
Rs1000 to deserving marginalised families will provide some relief”, a
PPP parliamentarian asserted.
“Let the growth pick up and you will see that the quality of our
governance will be better than that of the government of
Musharraf-Shauket Aziz that excluded the majority from benefits of
growth”, said another Jiala
(By
Afshan Subohi, Daily Dawn, 22/06/2009)
Addressing
fiscal anomalies
Taxpayer
response to several taxes and procedural change clauses in the Finance
Bill 2009 has been harsh. Already, the government has promised to
withdraw or soften their impact.
But the big worry is the government’s over-reliance on debt. According
to the Advisor on Finance, external debt (including $3.6bn lent by IMF
thus far) is now $50.1 billion. Another $4 billion would be borrowed
from the IMF as per the current agreement raising the debt to $54.1
billion. After repaying nearly $3.6 billion during FY10, the debt could
come down to $50.5 billion but would still be higher than its June 2009
level.
Suspecting the fiscal deficit to exceed the planned Rs722 billion, and
fearing delay in or non-receipt of aid promised by FoDP, Mr Shaukat
Tarin is advocating a new $4.5 billion IMF facility. This loan could
inflate the external debt to $55.5 billion or Rs4.60 trillion (at
Rs81/$). Whether this option will be exercised despite receiving a total
of $1.8 billion in aid from the US after the passage of the Kerry-Lugar,
is unclear. The domestic debt is now Rs3.72 trillion. After the budgeted
borrowing of Rs458 billion and planned repayment of Rs300 billion in
FY10, this debt will exceed Rs3.88 trillion. Thus, the total debt
(Rs8.48 trillion) would form 58 per cent of the Rs14.58 trillion GDP
inclusive of the 3.3 per cent growth expected in FY10. The total debt,
and external debt therein (even at Rs81/$) exceeding the domestic debt
by 18 per cent, are worrisome prospects.
Yet, nothing significant was proposed to mobilise domestic resources.
Ten percent tax on profit from all types of savings – a disincentive
– will continue. Atop thereof, the budget didn’t offer incentives to
expatiate Pakistanis to shift their foreign currency deposits to
Pakistan although, at present, profit rates on foreign currency deposits
inclusive of a premium could be the cheapest source. The lopsided
Finance Bill makes the 3.3 per cent GDP growth and a slowdown in the
rupee’s slide very uncertain. The major deficiencies of the bill are
not taxing the sectors that have the capacity for paying, but taxing
commodities/sectors whose tax-inflated prices will have a snowballing
effect that could thwart all attempts at lowering inflation and
stabilising the rupee. The most worrisome is the carbon tax on petroleum
products (even if CNG is exempted from it) and a 10 per cent hike in
power rates. These tax increases will push up the price of almost
everything since, in one way or another, energy forms a part of their
cost as does the cost of transporting them to consumer markets. Such tax
hikes have served as a cover for unchecked profiteering by distribution
channels that have been fuelling inflation.
A key option exercised for increasing exports is to allow faster
depreciation (90 per cent in the first year) on power generation
equipment that exporters must buy to run their factories full-time. But
given the steady depreciation of the rupee and high mark-up rates,
exporters can’t benefit from it. What they need is uninterrupted power
supply, which the state can’t promise.
Export indenters (who market for export orders) must now pay five per
cent tax on their earnings compared to one per cent at present. How will
this nudge them to get more export orders is anybody’s guess.
Exporters utilise a lot of the non-fund-based banking services on which
Federal Excise Duty has been raised to 16 from 10 per cent. Both export
indenters and banks will pass their new tax load on to exporters.
Doing away with ‘minimum’ tax and requiring trading houses to submit
tax returns for assessing the final tax liability has caused a storm
because it accompanies organisational re-structuring of the FBR that
empowers Income Tax Commissioners (ITCs) with extended authority for
fixing tax liabilities. Changes in the timeframes for settling tax
disputes made this move more questionable.
Earlier, appeals had to be settled within 120 days from the end of the
month in which they were filed. If a decision wasn’t taken within 150
days thereafter, the taxpayer’s position was deemed as accepted.
Taxpayers only had to send a reminder during the last 30 days. Now the
120-day period will start from the date the petition is filed but if a
decision isn’t taken within 120 days thereof, the taxpayer must keep
waiting for it. Time frame for disposal of refund applications has been
increased from 45 days to 50 days. Appointment of Alternative Dispute
Resolution committees will now take 60 instead of 30 days. But the new
profile of the appellate tribunals is the oddest; these courts will now
be presided over by ITCs. No longer will an accountant, a judicial
officer and the ITC sit on the bench.
Banking sector’s demand for tax relief on loan losses has virtually
been ignored. The relief is one per cent of the classified loans, which
was earlier construed as one per cent of total loan portfolios. Both
bases are unfair because one per cent of even the total loan portfolio
would be grossly short of the banking sector’s NPLs that now form 11.3
per cent of the total outstanding credit.
The claim that the relief is in line with SBP Prudential Regulations is
misleading. The virtual absence of tax relief on NPLs classified in the
loss category (i.e. overdue by two years) will adversely impact the
banking sector. According to Ford Rhodes Sidat Hyder & Co., denial
of the sectors’ valid tax relief demand “potentially challenges the
continuity of some banks.”
While the upper limit for tax exemption of salary income has been raised
to Rs0.2 million, those earning over Rs8,650,000 a year will still be
taxed at a paltry 20 per cent. In sharp contrast thereto, non-salary
earning individuals getting anything over Rs1.3 million in a year will
be taxed at 25 per cent. But, salaried taxpayers will have to pay a tax
retrospectively (i.e. on their 2008-09 earnings) to assist in IDP
rehabilitation.
Teachers/researchers employed by non-profit institutions or institutions
approved by a Board of Education, University or HEC, or serving in
government’s research institutions were earlier entitled to 75 per
cent relief in their tax liability. That relief has now been cut to 50
per cent. How much revenue this cut will generate was not disclosed in
the budget.
Despite all this, income tax on retail, wholesale and corporate sectors,
share-trading, and real estate remains unchanged. Income from
agriculture stays tax exempt. In a post-budget seminar in Lahore on June
17, the Advisor on Finance admitted that some of the anomalies in the
budget and the Finance Bill escaped his attention, and promised to
redress them; let’s hope he does so.
(By
A.B. Shahid, Daily Dawn, 22/06/2009)
Economic
Survey depicts a grim picture
Pakistan
Economic Survey 2008-09, launched on June 11, 2009, depicts a grim
picture. Against the target of 4.5 per cent and previous year’s
estimated growth of 4.1 per cent, the provisional GDP growth of outgoing
year stood at two per cent, equivalent to that of financial year
2000-01.
Sectoral analysis is even more frustrating but for agriculture. From
commodity producing sector, farm output has been shown to have increased
by 4.7 per cent, up from last year growth of 1.1 per cent; manufacturing
has slumped steeply to minus 3.3 per cent, down from previous year’s
growth of four per cent which was also lower by 4.7 per cent than that
of FY2006-07
But still more depressing is the fact that large scale manufacturing has
receded from four per cent of last year to minus 7.7 per cent this year.
Services sector for last many years has been contributing more than 50
per cent of the GDP and still stands at 53.8 per cent, higher by 0.8 per
cent over the previous year.
Yet, finance and insurance which along with defence and social services
was the hallmark of the services sector has fallen off the cliff from
12.9 per cent of last year to minus 1.2 per cent this year.
For the first time in many years, however, there is some sort of
reciprocity between large scale manufacturing and financial sector, both
have shrank together in sharp contrast of their previous relationship.
The share of finance and insurance in the GDP almost doubled from
2002-03 to 2007-08, while manufacturing sector’s contribution showed
only a marginal growth of 2.6 per cent from 16.3 per cent to 18.9 per
cent in corresponding period.
Studying this relationship is important, for agriculture is not
dependable particularly in the absence of diversification, lack of
innovation to the point of stagnation and for want of infrastructure and
policy support.
Economic Survey has, primarily, found external factors including ‘war
on terror’ responsible for the economy’s slow down. The Survey has
also enumerated the list of measures taken that have helped to arrest
further slide of the economy . But, unfortunately, it has not discussed
the reasons that why share of industrial sector in the GDP which
includes mining and quarrying, manufacturing, construction and
electricity and gas distribution has been stagnant around 23-25 per cent
for last 40 years. Similarly, the contribution of agriculture has been
decreasing steadily since FY 1982. In agriculture again, the share of
crops is continuously decreasing whereas share of livestock is
progressively increasing; and now the livestock constitutes 52.3 per
cent of the sector.
Although, there is a very small Major crops production (000 tons)
organised dairy industry, nevertheless, livestock is most informal of
the two sub-sectors; its major component is milk followed by meat. Milk
produced and consumed by rural families and milk of sheep, goat and
camel is also included in the total. How its volume and worth is
calculated is not only a mystery but also is very puzzling as well. In
fact, in view of relatively better infrastructure facilities,
omnipresent scientific knowledge of this sector, availability of hybrid
seeds, efficient use of water, potential diversification and even use of
nano-technology should have increased its volume and worth. But the
following figures of Cotton production
Economic survey speak of another story.
The above table depicts anecdote of unpredictability and near
stagnation.
If compared with increase in population, the agricultural growth pattern
is disquieting. In 1999-2000 crop agriculture at constant factor cost
stood at Rs468 billion whereas population was around 137 million. The
population has increased to 162.37 (as per official government website
166.6) million while value of crop agriculture has grown to Rs546
billion in 2008-09.
The population has increased by 18.3 per cent whereas growth in crop
agriculture stands at 16.6 per cent only. It means that if we want to
feed our population at the level of 1999-2000, a sizable number of our
people would not be able to get any thing.
The stellar growth of finance and insurance in the past did not have
proportionate impact on the growth of commodity producing sectors. What
does it mean for industry and agriculture. The Economic Survey should
have analysed these aspects of the economy and provided food for thought
to our legislators and policy makers. On the contrary, it has just
compiling unreliable figures borrowed from Federal Bureau of Statistics
and Pakistan, Labour Survey etc.
The Economic Survey is utilised as a working paper for preparation of
the budget and is supposed to be used by parliamentarians, by analysts
and researchers. The international financial institutions depend upon on
the Survey for their analysis. Even State Bank in its annual report
borrows some computations made by the survey. But, regrettably, neither
the analysis nor the calculations are up to the mark and the quality of
the survey has suffered over time.
A multitude of examples could be cited to substantiate the point but
probably one example would be enough. Author of ‘Population Labour
Force And Employment’( a chapter of economic survey of 2006-07)
pointed out that a large population, offering abundance of ‘labour’,
was a window of opportunity for investors in two ways. A large quantity
of labour was available for productive purposes and a big population was
also a large potential market for goods and services.
In the age of knowledge economy and high-tech, rarely any foreign
investor would be interested in almost uneducated, poorly skilled and
impoverished populace.
Unless this population is transformed into human capital of world
standard, we can not boast of a labour force appropriate for our own
consumption and requirement what to talk of investors from abroad. At
the same time, without adequate incomes to spend, how the poor masses
could buy goods and services. But learned author argued further by
giving definition of demographic dividend. Unfortunately, definition,
which was word by word borrowed from an international source (IMF)
without citing it, was erroneously used. In fact, definition given in
original source was not that of demographic dividend rather it was that
of demographic transition.
Indeed, real research and original work can not be substituted by
generalised concepts developed by IMF and World Bank which usually are
out of context and incompatible with developing countries like Pakistan.
Concepts of per capita income, tax-to-GDP ratio; dependency ratio and
working age of population are few relevant examples which are amongst
the core concepts of these organisations but are used without assigning
due weight to the local conditions.
The Economic Survey should have analysed the issue of tax-to-GDP ratio
and elasticity of taxes in their entirety but, unfortunately, our
experts do not have the ability to grasp intricacies of economic issues.
In fact, along with other things, we immediately require to restructure
our system of data collection and to make it transparent and develop
state-of- the- art capacity of relevant human resource for analysis of
the available information
(By
Dr Murtaza Khuhro, Daily Dawn, 15/06/2009)
Police,
power sector rated as most corrupt in Pakistan
Corruption
has increased in Pakistan to the tune of Rs 45 billion in 2002 to Rs 195
billion in 2009, according to a report by Transparency International
Pakistan.
Police and power sector maintained their ranking as the top two most
corrupt sectors, it said, citing The National Corruption Perception
Survey-2009 (NCPS-2009).
It maintained that there has been “remarkable improvement” in
judiciary. It was ranked third most corrupt sector in 2006 but was now
ranked seventh. The findings of Transparency International showed that
police, power sector and health departments in Pakistan were the “most
corrupt” departments, while judiciary, customs and taxation
departments improved their ranking since 2006. “The present district
government system has been rated as more corrupt by 66.48 per cent
respondents as compared to previous district government systems,” it
said. Sixty per cent respondents felt that the armed forces should not
be involved in commercial activities and National Accountability Bureau
(NAB) or any other equivalent anti-corruption agency should be an
independent body under the Supreme Judicial Council.
Seventy-seven per cent respondents said the media played a positive role
in combating corruption. TV channels GEO, ARY, Express and Aaj were
rated as the most viewed channels, according to the respondents. The
NCPS-2009 showed that the quantum of bribe was highest in tendering and
procurement.
(The
News, 18/06/2009)
KESC
could have done better, says inquiry report
A
three-member team, headed by the National Power Control Cell (NPCC)
general-manager, which was constituted to probe the worst-ever power
breakdown in Karachi, in its report on Thursday held that electricity
could have been restored much earlier had the Karachi Electric Supply
Company (KESC) taken timely action of running its Bin Qasim plant by
arranging diesel supplies. The report also said the long delay in the
restoration of power to Karachi and other areas was a consequence of the
KESC preferring to rely solely on Pepco’s restoration of power supply
to the KESC system. “The management of the privatised entity waited
unprofessionally for the restoration of power supply, which was
disconnected in the wake of tripping of the Jamshoro-Dadu transmission
line due to heavy winds and rain,” a senior official of the Ministry
of Water and Power told The News while quoting excerpts of the inquiry
report.
According
to the report: “Had the management come up with investments, and
improved its electricity generation and transmission system, the KESC
would have been in a better position to cope with such power breakdowns.
The management should have invested $60 million so far to improve its
system, but this had not been done.” When contacted, NPCC
General-Manager Masood Akhtar confirmed that the inquiry report had been
submitted to the government but refused to divulge its details. Water
and Power Secretary Shahid Rafi said the government was supportive to
the KESC only to the extent allowed under the law and if the KESC failed
to enhance its generation capacity, the government would take
appropriate action. He said out of 56 power plants, 17 plants got
tripped and, as a result, the entire Karachi was exposed to the massive
blackout.
Responding
to a question, he said the government had recently constituted a cabinet
committee, headed by the water and power minister, to examine the
implementation of the agreement with the new KESC management. He
unfolded the implementation agreement, saying the KESC management was
bound to come up with $350 million investment to improve its system.
However, while quoting the stance of the KESC, he said electricity
pilferage was still going on and electricity theft was going on through
650,000 illegal connections (Kunda). Hubco supplies 700 MW to the KESC
and its suspension tripped the entire KESC system as at that time the
electricity demand was at its peak, he added.
(By
Khalid Mustafa, The News, 20/06/2009)
At
least 40 police stations in city built on amenity plots
Police that is supposed to enforce law is fast occupying amenity plots
in mega city Karachi, thereby depriving citizens of parks, clinics,
hospitals and necessary open spaces. “There were two amenity plots in
the Journalist Colony in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. One was meant for establishing
a club while the other for a health centre. The total area of the two
plots was 3,000 sq. yards. However, police blatantly occupied the plot
meant for health centre and established Mobina Police Station there,”
A. Majid Khan, veteran sports journalist and former president Journalist
Welfare Society told The News.
“The City District Government Karachi (CDGK) has established a park in
the other plot although it was meant for a journalist club,” he said.
“The representatives of journalist community called on at least six
successive inspector general police (IGPs) to get the occupied plot
vacated but failed to do so,” said Abdul Hameed Chhapra, another
veteran journalist and a resident of Journalist Society in
Gulshan-e-Iqbal.
“As a matter of fact out of 100 police stations operating in the city
at least 40 have been built on encroached land,” he said. “No wonder
police is bracketed with land mafia because instead of ensuring security
to citizens it not only works hand in glove with encroachers but it
itself is a big encroacher,” concurred Habib Khan Ghauri, a veteran
journalist and former president of Karachi Press Club (KPC). A resident
of middle class locality of Nazimabad told The News that Shamim Shaheed
police chowki and a hydrant of Karachi Water & Sewerage Board have
been established in an Eidgah plot in Nazimabad No 3. He said there was
a time when former President Pervez Musharraf besides top cricket and
hockey players offered prayers on this plot.
A senior police official who requested anonymity confirmed that most of
the police stations in Karachi have been built on encroached land. “There
are 106 police stations in Karachi and most of them have been built on
encroached land,” he told The News. Then there are hundreds of police
posts built on pavements, he added.
According to noted architect and town planner Arif Hasan 8,000 acres of
amenity plots have been occupied in metropolis Karachi between 1986-87
and 2006-07, including a large number of parks. At many places these
parks have been occupied by the police. Even pavements have not been
spared by the police. For instance one finds well constructed police
posts on pavements in front of PECHS graveyard and at main Tariq Road.
Reportedly City Nazim Mustafa Kamal has been writing letters to Capital
City Police Office (CCPO), Waseem Ahmed, Governor Sindh Dr.
Ishrat-ul-Ebad, Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and home department
regarding collusion between police and the encroachers but to no avail.
According to newspaper reports the City District Government Karachi (CDGK)
has listed 7,956 alloted/un-alloted plots (residential, amenity,
commercial, industrial and flat-site) that have been encroached upon in
former KDA schemes in connivance with police. “No other city has
changed like Karachi,” according to Hasan.
Karachi became a high-density, multi-ethnic and multi-class city after
the creation of Pakistan in 1947 when it absorbed the influx of
immigrants from India and paved the way for the flowering of a nascent
culture. Influx of Bangladeshi population in the city after 1971 enabled
police to extort money from these poor people and one can find police
mobiles collecting money from Bengalis working in garment factories at
Karimabad on payday.
(By
Shahid Husain, The News, 02/06/2009)
City
Council approves creation of hawkers’ zones
The
City Council on Saturday approved a resolution with majority vote for
the establishment of “hawkers’ zones” in Karachi under the Urban
Space Management Programme.
Abdul Jalil of treasury benches said that Karachi was amongst the 12
mega cities of the world and encroachments in the city were hampering
traffic flow. He said that as many as 12 towns out of 18 functioning in
the city have appreciated the plan and have assured the City District
Government Karachi (CDGK) that they would ensure provision of land for
hawkers’ zones.
Shamim Wasi of opposition benches said that it must be assured that
hawkers did not suffer economically. Abdul Jalil of treasury benches
said that the plan was an endeavour to go for “uniformity” and for
this purpose “compromises” have to be made. However, it is yet to be
seen whether or not “hawkers’ zones” would benefit the poor
hawkers.
Hawkers at Saddar and Lea Market areas alone pay Rs25 million per month
as “Bhatta” (protection money) according to a survey conducted by
the Urban Resource Centre (URC). The informal sector was in fact a
constant and lucrative source of illegal earnings. The survey further
revealed that Bhatta is collected by one of the vendors every day and
then handed over to employees of traffic police, the (defunct) Karachi
Metropolitan Corporation’s land department, and area Station House
Officer (SHO). Bhatta is also collected by the employees of the CDGK and
the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation, while shopkeepers have to
suffer immensely if they did not pay Bhatta to the police. Even hawkers,
who have authorised businesses, were made to suffer. “We have 735
newspaper stalls in the city approved by the CDGK and we have NOCs from
the city Nazim but we too have to suffer when kiosks are removed by the
CDGK in connivance with the police,” said Iqbal Loon, President of
Anjuman Imdadia Akhbar Farooshaan, Karachi.
The City Council also waived 40 per cent payments in surcharge in land
allotted to the people because of non-adherence to timely payments.
Arshad Iqbal of treasury benches said that 547 plots were auctioned and
the recovery department of CDGK has failed to make timely recoveries
from the people who were allotted land. He said that if the recovery was
made, the CDGK would have received Rs720 million besides Rs18 million
surcharges.
Leader of the House Asif Siddiqui said that these plots would be
cancelled after June 30, 2009, if payments were not made.
Junaid Mukati of opposition benches said that if recovery has not been
made since 2002 when these plots were allotted, the recovery department
should be held responsible and officials in the department should be
replaced. Waqar Husain Shah of treasury benches, however, assured that a
decision regarding the recovery was in the interest of public. Another
resolution was passed regarding the restructuring and renaming of a
number of vacancies in the Enterprise and Investment Promotion Group of
Officers.
The City Council also approved a resolution regarding amendment to
empress account. The empress account has been raised to Rs2,000 for CDGK
members, Rs1,500 for Town Municipal Administration and Rs1,000 for union
administration. The City Council also approved a resolution for creation
of jobs in “Enterprise and Investment Promotion” and for its re-organisation.
(By
Shahid Husain, The News, 21/06/2009)
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