KARACHI  -  Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers from Baldia Town, Federal Minister for Water Resources and MNA Faisal Vawda and provincial lawmaker Malik Shehzad Awan, resolved their differences after intervention of the party leaders in province.

Shehzad Awan while talking to The Nation on Saturday blamed the federal minister for not giving attention to his constituency and neglecting development works after being elected.

The provincial lawmaker also threatened that if the federal minister would not pay heed to the issues in the constituency then they could mull over option to stage a sit-in outside his residence in Clifton area of the city.

He also blamed the federal minister for holding meeting of party representatives at his residence in Clifton rather than visiting the constituency and also ignoring the senior leadership of the party from the area in decision-making process.

However, the two lawmakers from Baldia constituency on Sunday buried the hatched after intervention from top party leaders and met each other.

Speaking after the meeting, Malik Shehzad Awan said that Vawda was like a brother to him and they had resolved their differences.

“Our only difference was over consultation as I believe that working in constituency should be carried out after consultations from area workers,” he said adding that the misunderstanding between the two was cleared after the meeting.

He said that the meeting decided that the two would work with mutual consultation and would take each other into confidence over the issues.

Altaf Shakoor said that according to the Federal Board of Revenue Yearbook 2017-18, which was released recently, Karachi contributed as much as PKR 980.766 Billion of the total tax generated from domestic sources, which amounts to PKR 2,389.666 Billion. This puts its contribution at 41 percent. He regretted that still both the federal and Sindh governments are not ready to own the megacity and provide it needed funds to save its citizens from filth and diseases.

He said the city government is totally dysfunctional due to an army of politically-recruited employees who are not able and nor ready to work. Moreover, the KMC faces acute paucity of funds because nothing is left for the megacity after paying salaries and pensions of city government employees.

Altaf Shakoor demanded to make Karachi a ‘charter city’ so that it could collect local taxes, make local laws and stand on its own two feet instead of waiting for dole-out from the federal and provincial governments. He said people of Karachi are now fed up with provincial and federal rulers who have left the megacity neglected and orphaned. He said Karachi is a revenue engine of Pakistan and it could even generate more revenue if the rulers invest in its infrastructure, especially municipal services, healthcare and public transport.

He asked the PTI government to grant special funds for uplift of Karachi because the voters of this megacity have already sent dozens of PTI candidates to parliament. He said the President of Pakistan Arif Alvi also belongs to Karachi, but sadly so far even he too has done nothing for his home city.

Altaf Shakoor demanded of the provincial government of Sindh to declare a municipal emergency in Karachi, and call army to help the civil administration in removal of garbage, opening of chocked drains and carrying out a massive fumigation to kills millions of houseflies and mosquitoes that have made life of the Karachiites miserable.