Sindh CM ‘disturbed’ by media coverage of Thar deaths

Shah says govt has been providing wheat to 1.6 million Tharis for last 5 years, but their population has increased now

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah is disturbed by the manner in which the deaths of infants in Thar are being reported by the media.

Addressing the members of the Sindh High Court Bar Association at the high court on Tuesday, Shah said that his government is providing one bag of wheat to each family every month for free.

He said the government has been providing wheat to the 1.6 million Tharis for the last five years, but their population has increased now. He admitted that, due to malnourishment, diseases were increasingly affecting the people.



Countering criticism of his government over the issue of Thar deaths, Shah pointed fingers at the Punjab where, he claimed, 3,000 people died from dengue fever in the past few years. But nobody questioned the Punjab government, he pointed out, adding that the Sindh government was unnecessarily being criticised over the Thar issue.

According to Shah, the best healthcare facilities are provided to the Mithi district headquarters hospital, which has air-conditioned rooms and 24 incubators – facilities that are, he said, not even available in Karachi in such large numbers.

Shah promised to overcome the electricity shortage in Sindh in the coming 18 months, adding that firms from China, Australia and England will soon establish power plants at a cost of Rs4 million each and will generate 6,000 megawatts for the grid. The government is also providing licenses to the foreign firms to generate electricity through windmills, which are already adding 300MW to the national grid, he added.



Recently, the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) awarded a lifetime membership to the chief minister, who thanked the members for the honour.

He announced a grant of Rs10 million for the SHCBA, promised to resolve the issue of imposition of services tax on the lawyers. He asked the lawyers to get the ban on new lands allotment lifted so that they could be provided 200 acres.