Opposition, treasury members blame each other for Sindh’s problems

PPP minister admits RO plants lying idle in some areas of the province

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly session on Monday yet again turned into an episode of finger-pointing and blame-shifting, with the opposition members deriding the provincial government over the non-functional water and sanitation schemes, especially the Reverse Osmosis plants in Tharparkar in other areas of the province. In response, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) lawmakers defended their government by accusing the Centre of not releasing funds and adopting delaying tactics.

MPA Hasnain Mirza, who is the parliamentary leader of the Grand Democratic Alliance, Opposition Leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Khurram Sher Zaman and Bilal Ghafar of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Javed Hanif of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) were among others who raised the issue.

As Speaker Agha Siraj Durani gave the floor to the minister for public health and engineering department, Mir Shabbir Bjarani, GDA's Mirza drew his attention towards the RO plants lying idle in various towns of Badin, including Kadhan, Seerani, Bhugra Memon and Koro Khan Lund. "The RO plants were installed before 2012, but have not been functional for quite some time now," he said, requesting the minister to look into it.

The public health engineering minister agreed that it was a genuine issue and that RO plants were indeed dysfunctional in some areas of Sindh. "Let me check it. We will restore all RO plants in a while," he said.

PTI's Zaman said that not only was the situation bad in Karachi, it was even worse in other areas of Sindh, including the PPP's constituencies in Dadu, where 61 water and supply schemes were lying non-functional. In response, Bijrani said, "This is all happening because the federal government has stopped releasing Sindh's funds. Many development projects are in the doldrums."

MQM-P's Hanif, who has also served as a secretary in the Sindh government rejected the minister's version. "Funds are released, but it is the incompetence of the provincial government that no work gets done," he said.

At this point, the information minister Saeed Ghani jumped into the fray. "Sindh has received Rs136 less from the federal government."

The opposition leader questioned why the federal government was being held responsible for every wrongdoing in Sindh. "I want to ask why 80% of the contracts of RO plants were given to one company - the Pak Oasis." The public health engineering minister said that Pak Oasis had done a tremendous job and Justice Hani, who was heading the judicial commission on water and sanitation, had also visited the areas.

During the question-answer session, the minister was asked about a mega RO Plant of Tharparkar which was inaugurated in January 2015, but is providing saline water.

The public health engineering department minister termed the statement "incorrect" and "misleading", adding that the project was treating the saline water and providing safe water for the inhabitants of the areas.

GDA's Nand Kumar Goklani moved a call-attention notice regarding a water supply scheme in Sanghar district, which according to him, has not been completed yet. "Sanghar is the worst-hit area when it comes to drinking water. Some pipes have been laid down, but the scheme also unfinished despite releasing funds. I want to want to know when this scheme will be finished," he said, adding that he has approached the relevant minister to resolve the issue, but all in vain. The minister assured him that the issue would be resolved soon.

Shortage of medicines

PTI MPA Adeeba Hasan, while moving a call-attention notice, raised the issue of shortage of medicines at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases and asked the health minister to brief the house about the issue.

The health minister, Dr Azra Pechuho, said that a central procurement committee was formed for purchasing medicines, but the judges, who are members of the committee, don't attend the meetings. "We have written to the judiciary to ensure the presence of judges or let us know if they are unwilling to be part of it," the minister said. The opposition leader suggested forming the committees under the supervision of deputy commissioners and said they should talk to the chief justice of the Sindh High Court to ensure the presence of judges in the committee meetings.

The assembly was supposed to take up the adjournment motion on the condition of Steel Mill, but it was deferred till Wednesday. Later, the speaker adjourned the session till today (Tuesday).

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2019.