Sindh Assembly: After child of Chehlum attack victim ‘turned away’, minister blasts KGS

Such schools should be shut down, says Katchi Abadis Minister Rafique Engineer.

KARACHI:

In a shift from politicking, a provincial minister chose to criticise the Karachi Grammar School (KGS) in the Sindh Assembly on Monday for “promoting elitism”.

Sindh Minister for Katchi Abadis Rafique Engineer criticised the well-known school, saying that establishments such as this one increase the gap between the social strata.

Children belonging to lower-income households have no right to get admitted. “This school is only for those people who own a Mercedes. There seems to be no space for students who belong to Lyari and those who commute by taxi and rickshaw,” he told the house.

The minister said he had taken a boy to Karachi Grammar School for admission. He had asked the management to let the boy sit the admissions test “on merit” as his father was killed in the Chehlum bomb blast. However, according to the minister, the school administration refused.

“We cannot tolerate this kind of mindset where children of the elite class have the right to get admission [in a certain school only] while others are not allowed. The education system needs to be reviewed and such schools must comply with the education policy of the provincial department.”

Engineer claimed the system had deliberately been introduced to establish such schools for the children of bureaucrats, businessmen and politicians just so they can replace their parents. “We want to see politicians and bureaucrats from the lower and middle classes,” he said. “Such schools should be shut down.”

Port royalty for Lyari

The people of Lyari had developed Karachi and therefore, Lyari should be paid the royalty for the Karachi port, said Engineer.

“During Mushrraf’s tenure, Lyari was completely neglected and looked like Ethiopia.” He said billions of rupees in tax were collected by Darsano Chano in Malir, but no development work was initiated in the area for the last 12 years.

‘Flooding could be worse this year’

Food Minister Nadir Magsi said the water level on the right side of the River Indus could be worse this year. He had been given the task by President Asif Ali Zardari to monitor the development work in the areas that suffered the most from the bund breaches.

Discussing the budget proposal for the year 2011-2012, he said that the irrigation department has failed to meet its target of strengthening the river embankments and that serious problems could emerge again during the monsoons. The officials were busy in internal conflicts instead of focusing on the work, he said.

Magsi said, while addressing Speaker Nisar Khuhro, that chief engineers of the right and left banks have started fighting with each other. “I ask the people of those areas - who were badly hit by the flood - to please wake up!”

‘Bad bureaucracy’

Magsi and other members, during their budget speech, criticised the Sindh planning and development department and its bureaucrats for not including their schemes in the Annual Development Programme (ADP). Despite directives by the chief minister, the schemes were dropped without any valid reason.

Works and Services Minister Manzoor Hussain Wasan said his department had finalised road schemes for Kambar-Shahdadkot, Kashmore, Khandhkot and Matiari districts, but planning and development officials dropped the schemes from the ADP.

Sheikh Muhammad Afzal, the minister for environment and alternative energy, complained about the hostile attitude of the staff and also said his schemes were not included.

“These schemes were sent to the department on the recommendation of the Sindh Assembly standing committee. The world is focusing on the environment and allocating a huge budget, but here, it has totally been neglected.”

Flyovers and security concerns

Manzoor Wasan said his department had planned to build flyovers near PIDC and Mehran Hotel, but due to security concerns, the project had not started.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2011.