In Sindh Assembly: Union committees’ officials yet to get office space

Poor attendance seen in Thursday’s session

KARACHI: Lack of office space for the newly elected local bodies’ representatives dominated the Sindh Assembly proceedings on Thursday.

The session started with deputy speaker Shehla Raza in chair. At the outset, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MPA Syed Nadeem Razi pointed out that the union committees (UCs) have elected chairmen but they don’t have offices to operate from.

“Despite our repeated requests, you have not given powers to these representatives,” he said during his call-attention notice. “I request you to please give them a space to sit so that they can properly work in their constituencies.”

Local government minister Jam Khan Shoro accepted that there was a shortage of office space and funds. He assured that the issue will be resolved in the forthcoming budget. “The number of UCs has exceeded and we don’t have sufficient funds so we are trying to accommodate UC chairmen, vice-chairman in government buildings,” he said, adding that in some places the government is renting out space for offices as the current budget did not allocate money for this.

Thursday’s was a dull session in terms of attendance. The proceedings began at 10:27am with only a few treasury and opposition members present.

Most of the questions for the livestock department were deferred and Raza skipped the call-attention notices on the agenda as the relevant lawmakers were missing. Only two of the seven such notices could be taken up. Even the question-answer session was quickly wrapped up as the members who moved the questions were not present.

“It is the responsibility of the government to complete the quorum ensuring the presence of ministers,” MQM’s Heer Ismail Soho told The Express Tribune. “As a member, we raise the issues but it will be useless if the relevant minister is not available. Who will take notice then?”

According to Soho, Pakistan Peoples Party ministers are not interested in the session. They are busy in personal gains, she claimed.

Meanwhile, transport minister Nasir Hussain Shah, who belongs to the PPP, said the chief minister took notice of the poor attendance and directed all members to come on time.

The Sindh Payment of Wages Bill, 2015, was taken up by parliamentary affairs minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro but it was also deferred till Monday. The session was adjourned at 12:30pm till after Friday prayers today. Khuhro announced that the session will spare two hours for a debate on the water crisis facing Sindh.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2017.