KARACHI:
Prime Minister Imran Khan has requested the Sindh government to participate in the Rs106.1 billion Ehsaas Rashan Programme (ERP) starting from 31st December. The programme will empower and ease transactions for kiryana retailers. Similarly, the health card scheme has also been launched in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab to provide medical assistance to underprivileged citizens without any financial obligations.
Unfortunately, both initiatives were rejected by the Sindh government because it believes that public hospitals in Sindh already offer efficient services. The residents of Sindh are forced to bear the brunt of the political tussle between the PTI and the PPP. The province is already facing lots of problems, which have created a sense of deprivation and resentment amongst the people. Now they are being further deprived of Centre-led initiatives that could potentially benefit them. Perhaps, the Sindh government should consider a mutual agreement with the federal government to enact these schemes. Otherwise, the inflation-stricken people will grow further agitated.
If the Sindh government believes that these schemes are inadequate, then it must consider initiating its own welfare programmes to extend relief to the people. It must reform public hospitals to improve medical assistance for the people. In addition, they must offer some form of economic rehabilitation to small retailers and underprivileged households. The people of Sindh are equally entitled to benefits and it is about time that the provincial government began prioritising the people that have consistently elected them to power. Good governance, eradication of corruption and merit should be the main objectives to serve the people.
Tariq Majeed
Hyderabad
Published in The Express Tribune, December 19th, 2021.
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