KARACHI - Mayor Wasim Akhtar said elected local government representatives should focus on the progress and development of the city. Municipal officers should also present in their departments or if they want to do politics then leave the job and come into politics.

He expressed these views while addressing to a meeting of the chairmen of various committees, city council members and city councillors elected on reserved seats in KMC Sports Complex on Tuesday.

People cannot be divided on the basis of politics. “We have responsibility of KMC and we have lot of issues in our city which is facing acute problems of garbage, sewerage and water and other issues. This would mean loss of the city if local government representatives indulge in political matters. Development works are being carried out in the city and ADP schemes are coming and this is our duty to monitor and oversee such works.”

DMC East Chairman Moeed Anwer, DMC Korangi Chairamn Nayar Raza, parliamentary leader in city council ASlam Shah Afridi, land committee chairman Arshad Hassan, chairman of Law Committee Arif Khan Advocate and large number of city councillors attended this meeting.

The mayor said this meeting had been called for taking into confidence the elected representatives at the start of new projects from KMC budget and the ongoing development project in the city and they are asked to give suggestions that which projects should be completed on priority basis in the city.

All city council members were given funds for upto Rs25 million development projects so that they could carry out development works in their union council.

He said ADP project includes the projects of all union councils. He said local government representatives should be allowed to work for the city.

He said he is not afraid of being de-seated and all local government representatives are with me. He said he is the Mayor of Karachi and he will continue to work for the city.

He said today meeting is not a power show but to this is a usual meeting to review development works in the city. He said the citizens were experiencing betterment in the city and the district chairmen are working for solving their problems. The meeting was also addressed by the DMC East Chairman Moeed Anwer and Chairman of DMC Korangi Nayar Raza.

It is pertinent to mentioning here that despite the tall claims by Mayor Karachi District Central Chairman Rehan Hashmi and number of other union council chairmen and vice chairmen did not attended the meeting raising fears among the Mayor Karachi led faction that he could be de seated by opposition with the support of splinter group.