City Mayor Waseem Akhtar has asked the Sindh government to release additional funds of Rs185 million to combat the spread of Covid-19 amid the lockdown. He put this demand before Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah in a letter issued by the Mayor Secretariat. In the letter, the Karachi mayor said the money was needed for disbursement of salary, pension, POL payments and fire risk allowance to the employees of the KMC. He said the corporation’s revenue collection has been hampered badly due to Covid-19 and the lockdown. “It has been communicated time and again that the shortfall in monthly salaries, pension, fire risk allowance, gratuity to the employees of KMC, DMCs and District Council Karachi is being met out from the own resources since several years, as the releases of funds on account of Octroi and Zila Tax & Grant-in-aid are short and do not fulfill the entire requirement of KMC,” the letter read. He said due to non-payment of POL bills for February and March, the designated petrol pumps have stopped fuel supply to the KMC service vehicles, including fire tenders and spray machines. Having no fund at this time adversely affects KMC’s fire brigade employees, said, adding that fire risk allowances for March and April haven’t been paid to over 1,000 firemen.Akhtar said a shortfall of Rs50.06 million was witnessed in pension payments. He made it clear that the KMC needs funds in different heads on an emergency basis. He said Rs48.78 million is needed for fire risk allowance, Rs50.06 million for pensions, Rs56.20 million for outstanding POL payments and Rs30.10 million for salaries of doctors.
