KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Friday was told that the retirement benefits and dues of over Rs13 billion were yet to be paid to the retirees of municipal agencies, including the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), for several years.

In reply to a call attention notice by Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) lawmaker Abdul Waseem, Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani conceded that the payment of the dues to the retired employees was an issue in theprovince and many retired municipal staffers were worried about it.

In the notice, the MQM-P member pointed out that no pension or dues were paid to the retired employees of different departments, including KMC, Karachi Development Authority (KDA), Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC), Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and defunct district municipal corporations.

The LG minister, however, said the retired employees of the municipal agencies were being paid pension regularly.

He said that the retired employees of the KMC and KDAwere also being paid pension regularly. `The payments from the provident fund have been made to these retired employees,` he added.

He said the dues had been paid to the employees who stood retired till July 2017, while the dues of those retired from the municipal service afterwards were yet to be paid.

Mr Ghani said the KMC was obliged to pay the dues of the retired employees of the district municipal corporations in the city till 2023. `Our standpoint is that dues of the later period are payable by the towns municipal corporations,` he said.

He said the provincial govern-ment had been paying Rs1.2bn to the KMC every month for the disbursement of salaries and pensions to the latter`s employees.

`In the past, former city nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal borrowed Rs500 million for one month under the same head but the provincial government continues to extend the same financial support till the present day as this monthly assistance has now increased to Rs1.2 billion,` he said.

He informed the house that the provincial government on receiving an additional demand from the KMC had approved a loan of Rs2.76bn for the city`s municipality.

Mr Ghani said the KDA had to pay Rs3.8bn in dues to its employees whose payment had been pending since September 2020. He said the KDA had requested the provincial government to release a Rs3 billion grant.

He said the provincial government had been paying a sum of Rs400m to the KDA for the payment of salaries and pensions of its employees.

He said the provincial cabinet had approved a grant of Rs500m for the Hyderabad Development Authority.

The minister said the dues of the retired employees of the SBCA had been paid, while a sum of Rs5.1bn was payable to the staffers of the KWSC from July 2020 to Dec 2024.

Answering another call attention notice moved by MQM-P`s Amir Siddiqui on the unsatisfactory sanitation situation in Jamshed Town and adjacentareas in the city, the LG minister conceded that the services of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board had been affected in all towns of Karachi`s District East.

He said the sanitation contract for district East with the Chinese company had expired.

He said the contract couldn`t be renewed because the foreign company in question was keen to receive its payments in dollars only, instead of rupees.

He said that other sanitation companies had agreed to receive their payments in the local currency.

BRT lines to have cycling lanes: minister Furnishing statement and replies of lawmakers, Senior Minister SharjeelInamMemon, who also holds the portfolio of transport, said the Sindh government had implemented significant initiatives to enhance public transportation infrastructure in the city.

He said the Peoples BusService (PBS), launched in 2022, operated 250 state-of-art diesel-electric buses, including 28 pink buses exclusively for women.

He said that the PBS was serving approximately 100,000 passengers daily on 10 routes.

In reply to a question by MQM-P`s Dr Fouzia Hameed, the transport minister said that the pedestrian paths and cycling lanes were included in the scope of work of Bus Rapid Transit Yellow Line and BRT Red Line along the corridors.

`The BRT Red Line has a dedicated cycle track with pedestrian friendly walkways throughout the 22-km corridor, he added.

Earlier, Speaker Syed Awais Qadir Shah started the proceedings without any delay at 10am to find only two members on the treasury benches and six on opposition benches.

Later, three dozen more members from the two sides of the aisle joined the sitting.

The house was adjourned to Monday.