The HRCP proposal, which combined key elements of the two laws and was put forward by a group of concerned citizens led by Dr Kaiser Bengali, was silent about the future of the areas that fall within the ambit of the cantonment boards, the Defence Housing Authority and the land-controlling authorities other than the provincial government.
While the proposal, unveiled by Dr Bengali at a press conference here on Wednesday in the presence of senior members of the HRCP, said there would be three city district administrations in the provincial metropolis, it did not define administrative boundaries of each of the three Karachi districts and their towns.
While Dr Bengali, a former adviser to the chief minister, insisted at the press conference that the proposal was not made on an ethnic basis, it appears that the proposed division of Karachi would only widen the gulf among different ethnic communities and might create more ‘no-go areas’.
When a reporter asked whether the proposed division of Karachi, if implemented, would create more no-go areas, Dr Bengali said: “No-go areas are still there…actually it’s a turf war but there will be no war if functions are defined clearly.”
He also conceded that the issue of the cantonment boards was not addressed in the proposal.
Dispelling the impression that the creation of Lyari-Keamari and Malir districts would benefit only a particular community or party, Dr Bengali said a large number of Urdu-speaking people also lived in Malir.He later told Dawn that certain things favoured the Pakistan People’s Party and some others the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in the proposal. “If we propose that Karachi shall remain one district then it would make many stakeholders unhappy. So we present a rational proposal so that the decision makers can evolve a consensus law before Nov 11.”
In the five-page document, Dr Bengali combined the provisions of SLGO, 1979 relating to revenue and law and order with provisions of the SLGO, 2001 relating to service delivery functions and proposed two parallel tracks — district administration and district local administration — answerable to the provincial government and elected district councils, respectively.
It said the divisional administration stipulated the restoration of the divisional tier, headed by a commissioner, with districts headed by a deputy commissioner under the SLGO, 1979.
The divisional administration would be responsible for revenue (land utilisation), law and order, disaster management (emergency relief) and regional planning and development.
About the district local administration, the document said that tier was proposed to adhere largely to the provisions of SLGO, 2001 and was responsible for the delivery of social services.
The finance and planning, works and services, school education, health, social welfare and urban development were proposed to be the functions of the district local administration, which would have a nazim, a district coordination officer, executive district officers of finance and planning (including accounts), works and services (roads, buildings, transport and alternative energy), health, social welfare and community development and urban development and regulation.
Dr Bengali proposed city district administrations for Karachi and Hyderabad, and said Karachi be divided into Karachi, Lyari-Keamari and Malir districts with their respective city district administrations and towns.
In addition to the existing Karachi towns, he also suggested the creation of a new town within the limits of the proposed Karachi city district administration, to be called Capital Town, comprising the Governor’s House, the Chief Minister’s House, the Sindh Assembly, the Sindh High Court, the Karachi registry of the Supreme Court, the Commissioner’s House and adjacent areas.
“Capital Town administration is proposed to be appointed by and responsible to the provincial government.”
He said the Hyderabad city district administration would cover the present Hyderabad district.
“Sukkur, Larkana, Nawabshah and Mirpurkhas and other urban centres with population between 250,000 and one million are proposed to have metropolitan corporation status, to be called metropolitan administrations,” he said, adding that all metropolitan administrations would comprise towns with their own administrations.
He suggested that urban centres with a population size of 50,000 to 250,000 were proposed to have municipal corporation status, to be called municipal administrations. Urban centres with a population size between 100,000 and 250,000 to have towns therein, with their own administrations, while urban centres with a population size below 50,000 were proposed to have town administrations.
It was also proposed that the taluka tier be abolished as it was a duplication of authority and was considered superfluous.
“Union Councils are proposed to have the same powers and functions of erstwhile towns committees and a report to the respective districts, but receive funds directly from the provincial government. All local government officers are also proposed to be appointed by the provincial government,” reads the proposal.
“All the entities — city district administrations, metropolitan administrations, municipal administrations, and town administrations are proposed to be headed by nazims, elected from amongst their respective councils. Thirty-three per cent of all councils are proposed to be women to be elected directly by women voters,” the proposal states.
It was admitted in the proposal that there were developmental and service provision issues that overlapped district boundaries. “It is, thus, proposed to create divisional planning boards with the chief minister as chairman and respective commissioner as member-secretary and including nazims and DCOs of related districts and give professional members, as may be prescribed. Divisional planning boards shall prepare regional development plans and process and approve schemes above and below a specified amount.”
Dr Bengali also proposed that a new division — Shaheed Benazirabad — be created for central Sindh, which would comprise Nawabshah, Naushehro Feroz, Sanghar and Dadu districts and Sehwan taluka.
He proposed that the distribution of finances to all entities in the districts be made through the provincial finance commission awards as envisaged in the SLGO, 2001.
No comments:
Post a Comment