As a Karachiite, I would like to express my full support to Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtars
request to Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to withdraw his approval to deduct Rs 1.269 billion from the Karachi Metropolitan Corporations share in the Octroi and Zila Tax (OZT) to pay K-Electric through 48 installments of Rs 26.454 million per month; as a disputed outstanding amount between KMC and K-Electric !
According to the Mayor, K-Electric owes more than Rs 7 billion to KMC under various heads of accounts and the unilateral decision of the CM, according to him is "irrational" and "unjust" based on a "so-called" standard practice adopted for all the municipalities in the city and the rest of the province - this reasoning doesnt hold water as KMC cannot be placed in this category, as it is empowered to impose/collect fees/taxes in the form of land rent, octroi, import surcharge etc..
Karachi has suffered enough due to the non-existence of an Empowered Local Government. It is about time the Provincial Government decentralises, devolves and distributes power (including finance) as it expects the same treatment from the Federal Government under the 18th amendment !
Concluding, the present dispute between KMCs/K-Electrics claim/counter-claim should be left to the two organizations to resolve between themselves and the CM must not display a bias towards a Private Entity which owes more than Rs 62 billion to Karachiites as pointed out by the Federal Secretary, Ministry of Water and Power, as recently as January 26, 2017 plus a huge amount by depriving its customers (residential, commercial and industrial) of TOU billing facility under SRO 571(I)/2016 dated 24-Jun-2016.
Best regards,
Nazim F Haji
nazimhaji@gmail.com
Cel : 0321-8220999
As a Karachiite, I would like to express my full support to Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar's
request to Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to withdraw his approval to deduct Rs 1.269 billion from the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's share in the Octroi and Zila Tax (OZT) to pay K-Electric through 48 installments of Rs 26.454 million per month; as a disputed outstanding amount between KMC and K-Electric !
According to the Mayor, K-Electric owes more than Rs 7 billion to KMC under various heads of accounts and the unilateral decision of the CM, according to him is "irrational" and "unjust" based on a "so-called" standard practice adopted for all the municipalities in the city and the rest of the province - this reasoning doesn't hold water as KMC cannot be placed in this category, as it is empowered to impose/collect fees/taxes in the form of land rent, octroi, import surcharge etc..
Karachi has suffered enough due to the non-existence of an Empowered Local Government. It is about time the Provincial Government decentralises, devolves and distributes power (including finance) as it expects the same treatment from the Federal Government under the 18th amendment !
Concluding, the present dispute between KMC's/K-Electric's claim/counter-claim should be left to the two organizations to resolve between themselves and the CM must not display a bias towards a Private Entity which owes more than Rs 62 billion to Karachiites as pointed out by the Federal Secretary, Ministry of Water and Power, as recently as January 26, 2017 plus a huge amount by depriving its customers (residential, commercial and industrial) of TOU billing facility under SRO 571(I)/2016 dated 24-Jun-2016.
Best regards,
Nazim F Haji
nazimhaji@gmail.com
Cel : 0321-8220999
