Treasury member laments presence of ghost schools in Sindh

Opposition rebukes government for not spending development funds

KARACHI: Not only did the opposition parties, but the lawmakers on the treasury benches too criticised the Sindh government on Tuesday for failing to live up to its pledge to develop education infrastructure and provide quality education in the province.

During a discussion on the budget at the Sindh Assembly, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MPA Khursheed Junejo, who hails from Larkana district, said, "Only a few days are left for this Assembly and government to finish its tenure, but we have not re-opened ghost schools in the province".

"Our education minister should prepare a list of ghost schools which are being used as autaq [guestrooms] so that the next government can resolve this issue," said the MPA, who was considered to be a close aide of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Junejo also expressed concern over the dilapidated irrigation infrastructure in the province. "Sindh had a unique irrigation system that was laid down during the colonial period but unfortunately [it] is on the verge of collapse," he said.



Since the ongoing session of the Sindh Assembly is the last session of its current tenure, many MPAs are speaking about their grievances against the government.

In the meantime, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Samar Ali Khan announced that he would not contest the coming general elections as he failed to deliver in his constituency because of the lethargic attitude of the provincial government.  "It looks like I have wasted my time here," Khan said. He added that he wanted to build schools and renovate the existing ones in his constituency but received a 'chit' from someone which said adi, sister, has ordered to stop such projects.

"I was hurt when I received this message from adi," he said, without naming one. Apparently he was referring to Faryal Talpur, sister of PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, as she is widely referred to as adi.

Khan went on to complain that the education minister had promised him to carry out development works in his constituency but in vain.  Chiding the PPP, he said, "The slogan 'Bhutto is alive' is there but Bhutto's vision of providing roti, kapra aur makan [food, clothing and shelter] is no more."



Mahtab Akbar Rashdi of the Pakistan Muslim League - Functional (PML-F) diverted the House's attention towards non-utilisation of the current fiscal year's budget. "Around nine departments of the government did not spend a single penny in the first nine months, which is very unfortunate," she said, adding that the budget for the upcoming financial year had been prepared in haste without providing any relief to the poor.

Rashdi, a bureaucrat-turned-politician, remarked that Sindh was an agrarian province but the PPP, which was in power in the province since a decade, had not given any relief to farmers. "When sugar cane farmers demanded their rights, the government baton-charged them and used water cannons against them," she lamented.

For the last four budgets, the provincial government has been announcing to establish Cambridge and comprehensive schools in the province but these funds remain only on paper as no progress has been made so far, Rashdi said. "Despite tall claims, the cheating culture is flourishing with each passing day in the province. How can quality education be achieved in this situation?" she asked.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) - Pakistan MPA Sumeta Azfal Syed who has recently joined the Pak Sarzameen Party alleged that the Sindh government had bungled the development funds of the opposition MPAs.  "Under the community development programme, each MPA was supposed to get development funds but the government has victimised the opposition MPAs by not releasing funds to them," she said, adding that the government increased funds for solid waste management each year, however, the increase in funds was not reflected in reality as Karachi had become a city of garbage. "No one is willing to lift the solid waste laying on roads and streets," she said.



Shah Hussain Sheerazi of the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz, and Rashid Khilji and Sabir Qaimkhani of the MQM-Pakistan also spoke on the budget. Later, Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani adjourned the session till today (Wednesday).