Fed govt allowing CDGK into cantt areas

i said to myself 'about time' when i read this:

Fed govt allowing CDGK into cantt areas

By Razzak Abro

KARACHI: The federal government has finally agreed to extend the city government’s access to city areas under the federal government’s jurisdiction, including those of the cantonment boards, in order to remove administrative complications in running civic affairs.

Sindh Chief Secretary Ejaz Ahmed Qureshi hinted at this while talking to Daily Times at his office on Friday. According to him, the federal government showed its willingness to do this during a high-level meeting held recently in Islamabad.

After the homework is done, he said, all the federal government-run bodies will hand over local tax tasks to the CDGK in their areas, and the CDGK will also be responsible for civic facilities in those areas.

This has been an important issue for a long time in the city and has cropped up especially during the monsoon disasters and infrastructure tragedies when the various civic agencies bickered with each other over jurisdiction and hence responsibility while the people of Karachi suffered. According to the CDGK authorities, most of the city areas [see pie chart] are under the jurisdiction of federal government bodies, such as the cantonment boards, Pakistan Railways, Karachi Port Trust, Civil Aviation Authority, DHA, etc. Both the current and former city nazims, Syed Mustafa Kamal of the MQM and Naimatullah Khan of the Jamaat-e-Islami, have been demanding more control for the CDGK so that the city is under one agency’s command. Kamal and the naib nazim Nasreen Jalil have pointed out several times that the CDGK actually just controls 30 percent of the city but is expected and held accountable by the public for the entire 100 percent. Part of the problem is that the cantonment boards and other land-governing agencies maintain a lower public profile than the CDGK and are less accessible to the public.

link:http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\10\27\story_27-10-2007_pg12_1