Federal govt opposes Sindh's proposal to collect KMC taxes through electricity bills

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Saturday opposed the Sindh government’s proposal to collect KMC taxes through electricity bills, ARY News reported.

Asad Umar while talking to media along with Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Syed Ali Haider Zaidi said the Centre would not allow the provincial government to collect Karachi Metropolitan Corporation taxes through power bills.

“We will not approve Sindh’s proposal,” said Umar, adding that he has spoken to Federal Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar regarding the matter.

On September 8, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had unveiled the provincial government’s plan to collect two taxes on behalf of the KMC — fire tax and conservancy tax — from the citizens of Karachi through the monthly K-Electric bill.

Shah had said that Rs100 and Rs200 would be charged respectively from two categories of consumers in the KE bill.

The plan was approved during a meeting between K-Electric representatives and Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah.

Speaking in today’s press briefing, the federal minister further said that K-IV water project for Karachi will be completed by Wapda in October 2023.

The federal government has taken the responsibility of the garbage disposal from Karachi and will lift 1.1 million tonnes of garbage from the metropolis,” the federal minister further said.

Talking about the contentious figures of Karachi’s population in Census, Umar said,” We don’t want forgery in the population census and will use technology to count it”.