Shortage of resources impacting local govt bodies performance, claims Ghani

KARACHI: Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani claimed on Thursday that local government bodies were unable to run dispensaries, hospitals and schools due to shortage of resources, and therefore, they wanted these institutions to be handed over to the Sindh government.

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“Improvement in Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Institute of Heart Diseases could provide better health facilities to the citizens of Karachi,” he said while addressing the media in the metropolis. 

However, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader said that if the local government bodies insisted to keep the institutions with them, the provincial government would not oppose it.

Ghani said that the PPP-led Sindh government wanted to empower the local bodies institutions.

“If somebody wanted a mayor to have control over the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), Sindh Solid Waste Management Authority (SSWMA) or Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), then they should know that those institutions had their own acts, and for any role of a mayor in them, amendments will be needed in the institutions acts,” he said.

Sindh information minister gave the statement in response to the opposition’s criticism over the passing of the Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2021 from the Sindh Assembly in the absence of its members.

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On Wednesday, Pak Sarzameen Party Chief Syed Mustafa Kamal had also announced to challenge the newly passed LG bill in the Sindh High Court (SHC).