“Nothing is spared from pollution whether they are our lakes, ponds, rivers or canals,” said environment minister Sheikh Muhammad Afzal, who tabled a resolution on the protection of the environment that was unanimously passed by the House.
The House’s members agreed that people who violate environmental laws should be heavily fined. Given the significance, the minister said that environmental studies should be part of school syllabuses.
Sindh needs to do something about its deteriorating environment because of smoke emissions and noise-, air- and marine pollution. What is worse is that the province’s forests are being destroyed.
Oil spills and untreated wastewater are affecting the mangroves, which shelter the land from cyclones and are breeding grounds for shrimp and other marine life.
The minister pointed out government plans to focus on solar and wind energy. “We are going to launch a Green Sindh project, under which around 1.5 million trees will be planted,” he said.
Minister Pir Mazharul Haq talked about how developed countries heavily fine people who violate environment laws. He suggested the environment ministry start doing its homework on this before legislation and look into setting up mobile environmental tribunals.
“If we avoid cutting trees, then fifty per cent of environment issues could be reduced,” he added.
Given that fossil fuels are becoming more expensive, the government should think of coverting to solar energy, which is not only cheaper but also has the capacity to meet farming demands.
“The solar system is environment friendly instead of generators, which emit smoke and cause environmental degradation,” said an MPA.
Another joint resolution on the conversion of agricultural tube wells to solar energy systems was passed by the assembly. The resolution was moved by Imran Leghari and Taimor Talpur (PPP).
MPA Shazia Mari was irritated about passive smoking. “Many members of the assembly don’t care about the people sitting next to them and start smoking,” she said. “I think it should be banned on the premises.”
To buttress her argument, she quoted from the PPP manifesto: “We have inherited the earth not to plunder and destroy, but to protect and conserve... “
An MQM member went so far as to say that not just smoking but gutka, chalia and mainpuri should also be banned from the premises.
Privilege motion
During the session, PPP MPA Ghulam Isran moved a privilege motion against the discourteous remarks passed by lawyer Akram Shaikh against the parliamentarians of Pakistan. The advocate had reportedly used the words that present parliamentarians were “uneducated and illiterate”.
In the motion, Isran said that the lawyer had violated the privilege of the assembly and that of all the legislators of Pakistan. He requested the Speaker to hold his privilege motion in order for it to be considered by the assembly.
Law minister Ayaz Soomro said that Akram Shaikh was one of “defenders of dictatorship” as he had fought cases for Pervez Musharraf. He supported the motion, saying that the lawyer must be summoned before the privilege committee with an explanation.
Inter-provincial coordination minister Makhdoom Jameeluz Zaman said that Shaikh had used bad language against a parliament where the founder of the country used to sit. For her part, MPA Shazia Marri added that the outgoing government wanted parliamentarians to be graduates so that real representatives would be cut off from the people.
MPA Rafique Engineer suggested the assembly should approach the Pakistan Bar Council and Supreme Court Bar Association to have Shaikh’s registration cancelled. The MQM’s Sardar Ahmed suggested a privilege committee decide. Later on, the Speaker ruled that a committee would be elected Wednesday.
When the session started, at around 11:30 am many points of order were raised.
MPA Nusrat Saher Abbasi said that the 700 people staying at relief camps in Korangi Fish Harbour did not have basic facilities.
Jails minister Muzaffar Shujra, who hails from a coastal area, said that they had provided them food, medicines and water. Camps have been also set up at Ibrahim Hyderi, Rehri and Bhains Colony. Schools and basic health centres have been evacuated and medical staff is available round the clock.
Fisheries minister Zahid Bhurgari said that the chief minister and governor had been monitoring the situation and the relief commissioner had visited the area. Local government minister Agha Siraj Durrani said that he had overseen the drain cleaning. Raza Haroon of the MQM pointed out that many meetings had taken place at CM and Governor houses between KESC, the water board, the cantonments and other agencies.
Private schools
Nadeem Maqool raised the issue that despite official summer vacations, many private schools were still running their terms. He said that schools charged fees for the summer but did not pay their teachers.
Bills
The House passed three bills - the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (Fourth Amendment) Bill 2010, a government bill on industrial relations (revival and amendment) Bill 2010 and the Sindh Technical and Vocational Training Authority (amended) Bill 2010.
Information Technology
PPI reported that information minister Raza Haroon told the House that 200 acres have been allotted for an “Internet Media City” on the Super Highway along the lines of Dubai and Manchester’s media cities.
They will provide 100,000 new jobs. The project was introduced in 2005 and tenders were released in April 2010. The IT department owns the land and has not been allotted to any private investor so far.
Haroon said that the E-policing system will cost Rs940 million and Rs400 million has been spent on it so far. He added that 157 contract employees have been recruited on merit.
Furthermore, government employees will be issued biometric identification cards, under a biometric Identification Electronic System (BIES) scheme, costing Rs100 million, to track their attendance. In the first phase, bio-information of approximately 10,000 civil servants will be fed into the system.
He said that the websites of 21 government departments have been created and 6,962 young people have been given four months of training in IT under the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development Programme. They are given a stipend of Rs5,000 to Rs7,000.
The speaker prorogued the session for an indefinite period at 2:40 pm.
Published in the Express Tribune, June 6th, 2010.
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