PTI Plans To Move IHC For Removal Of Mayor Islamabad

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Sep, 2019 ) :The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) leadership in the Federal Capital is planning to approach the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for removal of Mayor Islamabad Sheikh Anser Aziz as he has failed to resolve the civic issues.

Addressing a press conference here, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Capital Development Authority (CDA) Ali Nawaz Awan said he along with other National Assembly members from Islamabad Raja Khurram Shehzad Nawaz and Asad Umar would file a constitutional petition in the IHC if Sheikh Anser Aziz did not quit the mayorship voluntarily.

"We will request the court to transfer the affairs of Metropolitan Corporation of Islamabad (MCI) to the Climate Change Ministry or the CDA as the mayor and his team have turned the city into a 'kachra kundi' (garbage dumping site)," he said while citing the example of Islamabad Zoo, whose inmates (animals) were dying because of the negligence of MCI officials.

He said they were also considering other legal options, including moving a no-confidence move against the mayor.

"We have no personal rift with the mayor, but the citizens of capital cannot be left at his mercy," he said, urging the union chairmen belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to dethrone Sheikh Anser Aziz for the sake of public welfare.

Terming the federal capital a face of the country, he alleged that the mayor was working on a plan to turn the capital city into another Karachi for political motives.

Ali Nawaz said the MCI had collected Rs 2 billion from the public on various heads, which it was using for different civic projects, but now it was doing nothing. The MCI was even maintaining an account in Punjab while the mayor was now planning to circumvent the revenue collected by the CDA for the corporation, he added.

He said the previous government had announced to form a board under the Local Government Act, 2015 but it could not be constituted due to indifferent attitude of the mayor towards resolving the public issues.

The special assistant said the mayor did not hold even a single budget session since his election while the formulation of rules of business and financial regulations rules remained an elusive dream due to his slackness.

The shortage of water, he said, was a chronic problem for the capital's residents, but no concrete effort was made by the mayor to overcome it.

He said six years ago, the then city managers had ensured the provision of required 256 million gallons per day (MGD) to the capital dwellers. Today, the same amount of water was required, but 50 tube-wells out of 156 were dysfunctional.

The residents of I-8, I-9 and I-10 were getting intermittent supply of water as five out of 16 tube-wells in those sectors were out of order, he added.

The mayor, Ali Nawaz regretted, was visiting foreign countries instead of redressing the basic issues of citizens, including water, solid waste management, environment and others.

He said the collection and disposal of garbage from the city was not up to the mark. Sanitation workers in various sectors had even stopped lifting trash and were staging demonstrations for their salaries, he added.

The special assistant said the MCI owed Rs 300 million to the private contractors involved in garbage collection.

The federal government, he said, was taking concrete measures and stepped up its efforts to resolve the public issues in the capital on priority.

To a query, Ali Nawaz said the permanent dumping site would be developed in the federal capital by the end of current year as the CDA was in the process of hiring consultants for the purpose.

He said the civic agency had also set up five garbage sorting stations at par with international standards, claiming that the issue of waste management would be resolved within next four months.

He said the federal government had allocated Rs 250 million for the completion of ongoing development projects in the city and approved the release of its first tranche of Rs 50 million.

Khurram Shehzad Nawaz also told the media that the initiatives related to health, education and employment were also being taken to ensure the well-being of citizens.

He said the CDA board had approved four sites for setting up of graveyards in Lakhwal, Bhara Kahu, Farash and Humak to facilitate the citizens of rural areas to bury their deceased, while the selection of fifth location was in process.