Mayor Karachi Wasim Akhtar on Tuesday said that an empowered local bodies' setup is crucial to strengthen economy and democracy in the country.

He demanded that all civic bodies be brought under the control of one authority to solve the problems of the metropolis as that the SLGA 2013 has devastated the whole city.

He expressed these views while addressing a reception hosted in his honour by the Karachi Electronics Dealers Association at its head office, here.

Karachi is presently facing a difficult time and in fact it is in the intensive care unit as no one is paying attention to it whether it is provincial government or federal government.

"Despite contributing around Rs350 billion revenue to the national exchequer, Karachi remains in worst condition," he lamented, adding that democracy or economy could be strengthened only if local governments are made strong.

The city traders want the mayor to stage a sit-in by for resolving problems, he maintained, urging the government to addressing the problems of Karachi before the traders decide to stage a sit-in as representatives of 300 Karachi markets are already ready to hold protest for acceptance of their demands.

Wasim further said that the Sindh Government is not even providing full salary of its employees despite it keeps all revenue departments on its disposal. If the staff of Sindh government got increase in their pay, this raise should also be given to KMC and DMC staff.

He said that the federal and provincial governments held a month-long cleanliness drives which gave only temporary benefits because lifting and disposal of garbage was a routine work, which can not resolved through running a campaign.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019