Money matters: When it comes to development, Sindh is in chaos

KARACHI:

The Sindh Assembly session on Thursday was chaotic to say the least. Members of the opposition and treasury benches breathed fire at each other over the issue of development in Sindh.

While the ruling party's lawmakers claimed they had broken all records of development during the last seven years in government, the former questioned why people were committing suicides due to starvation and unemployment.

"Go and visit Gorakh Hill station - a tourist spot built by the Sindh government - before you criticise. You will have a different perception," said Sharmila Farooqi, the special assistant to the chief minister on culture.

In her budget speech, Farooqi jealously defended the government. "Everything was great when you (MQM) were our coalition partner and enjoyed more incentives than the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ministers," she remarked sarcastically. "Now you have termed all PPP government budgets anti-people." Referring to speeches by lawmakers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz and Pakistan Muslim League - Functional, she said, "In spite of receiving 57 per cent less funds (from the federal government) than its share in the federal divisible pool, Sindh has allocated more budget in education, health, law and order and other sectors," she said.

MPA Eijaz Shah Sherazi of Thatta, who is considered to be an arch-rival of the PPP, referred to the budget documents and said: "I say this under oath that they have not incorporated a single development scheme proposed by us in the last seven years." He added that they had not even been disbursed the special funds allocated to MPAs. "The PPP lawmakers have even bungled the Rs60 billion development funds meant for Larkana city," he said, adding that four different tenders had been awarded to various companies to build the Shah Jehan Mosque Road in Thatta, but the scheme was still in doldrums.

MQM MPA Poonjo Bheel, who belongs to a scheduled-caste Hindu family from Tharparkar, questioned why people were committing suicide when the treasury members claimed to have done so much. "Kewal Kolhi and his wife, Najo, hanged themselves in Badin district, which is said to be richest in oil reserves, because they were unable to feed their children. Have you taken any notice of it?" he asked the chief minister who was also present in the session. The chief minister was, however, busy singing the summaries and letters being presented by his party MPAs. Other PPP lawmakers responded to Bheel's question in his stead. "The PPP has done a lot more than others for minorities in Badin and Tharparkar district," said one of the lawmakers rhetorically.

Bheel then referred to the 10,000 acres of land of the Seed Corporation that has now been encroached. "You have not even been able to get government land evacuated," he snubbed. Referring to the distribution of wheat among people in Thar, Bheel said, "This initiative has forced people towards begging. Why does the government not take sustainable measures by reviving the Hakro sweet water canal that is lost in the Thar desert. It will not only resolve the drinking water issue, but people will also have adequate water for irrigation."

Meanwhile, PPP's Kulsoom Chandio was all praise for the chief minister Qaim Ali Shah and finance minister Murad Ali Shah. She was of the opinion that her constituency in Dadu district should be taken as a role model where a large network of schools, colleges and roads had been built by the government. The lawmaker lashed out at the federal government, however, for allocating lesser funds to Sindh in the public-sector development programme. Several PPP lawmakers agreed with her, claiming that a majority of the funds were being directed towards Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2015.