During the Sindh Assembly session, the minister warned that the president has taken notice.
Law Minister Ayaz Soomro disclosed that Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah tried to contact the KESC managing director on Thursday but found out that he was not in the country. He then talked to Raja Pervez Ashraf, federal minister for water and power, and urged him to intervene.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s parliamentary leader Sardar Ahmed stressed that the utility must be “forced” to restore its employees. Labour Minister Amir Nawab agreed.
Benazir university
The Sindh Assembly unanimuosly passed the Benazir Bhutto University, Benazirabad (Amendment) Bill, 2011, into law.
According to the new law, the tenure of the vice-chancellor has been set at four years. This detail was missing from the act.
Lyari Medical College
The admissions in the new Lyari Medical College will start in a few days, said Katchi Abadis Minister Rafiq Engineer. Responding to a point of order raised by Shamim Ara Panhwar, the minister said he raised this issue before the health minister Thursday.
Water shortage
The assembly passed a resolution moved by Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Munawar Abbasi to look into the drinking water shortage in Karachi.
Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro referred the resolution to the Standing Committee on Local Government. The committee will present its report in the next session.
Promotion of DSPs
Soomro said that 44 DSPs, who were sacked by past regimes and later were restored on court order, have been promoted as SPs.
Responding to Pakistan Muslim League-Functional’s Nusrat Saher Abbasi, the law minister said these DSPs were appointed during the second PPP tenure when Abdullah Shah was chief minister. He claimed that these officials have passed the test and it was the “discretion” of the provincial chief executive to relax the rules for the direct appointment in grade-17 officers.
Abbasi pointed out that these DSPs had failed the test, according to media reports, and were told to sit for a “special test”. She said these officers were promoted by sabotaging the seniority list.
PPP’s MPA Sharjeel Inam Memon uttered adverse remarks against Abbasi and claimed that the media reports were “baseless”. He added that none of these officers were related to PPP ministers.
Khuhro tried to pacify the legislators and said that the MPA should raise such issues before the house whenever they appear in the media. He said that officials may have also contradicted media reports by holding a news conference.
Livestock affairs
Sindh’s animals are being smuggled to Iran and it is the federal government’s responsibility to control it, said Livestock Minister Mir Abid Hussain Jatoi. He explained that since these animals are being smuggled through Balochistan, the issue is out of the provincial government’s jurisdiction.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2011.
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