Sindh govt approves to create new district in Karachi

KARACHI: In an important development, the Sindh government on Thursday approved creation of seventh district in Karachi, ARY News reported.

The Sindh cabinet meeting held in port city under the chair of Chief Minister Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, has approved to make Keamari Town as seventh district of Karachi.

The cabinet approved to include areas of SITE, Baldia, Harbour and Maripur sub-divisions into district Keamari.

The cabinet was apprised that there are currently seven sub-divisions in District West, Karachi and it is the second-largest district in Sindh according to population-wise.

During the meeting, CM Murad Ali Shah also proposed to rename district South as ‘Karachi District’. “The districts in the port city should be named after their popular areas,” suggested Murad in the meeting.

Read More: Federal, Sindh govts form joint committee for Karachi development: Asad Umar

The cabinet members also put forward a suggestion to divide Khairpur into two districts.

Speaking over the local government institutions, Murad Ali Shah said that Sindh was the only province where local government institutions have completed five-year term.

“We [Sindh govenrment] allowed Mayor Karach Waseem Akhtar to work freely with all resources and supported him for the uplift of metropolis,” said Shah.

He said that the provincial government was working on a new local government system and will be presented in Sindh Assembly after making ammendments.

On the other hand, the MQM-P, PakPakis Tehreek-e- Insaaf (PTI) opposition parties in Sindh Assembly, have opposed the formation of new district in Karachi and decided to challenge it in the court.

It is pertinent to mention here that with the addition of new district, number of the administrative districts has gone up from six to seven including South, West, East, Central, Malir, Korangi and Keamari districts.

According to the map, the district South Karachi comprises seven sub-divisions including Saddar, Arambagh, Civil Line, Garden, Lyari, Harbour and Maripur.

District East Karachi consists of four sub-divisions including Ferozabad, Jamshed Quarters, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Gulzar-e-Hijri (Scheme-33).

District Malir Karachi comprising six sub-divisions including Bin Qasim, Ibrahim Hydri, Shah Mureed, Gaddap, Airport and Murad Memon.