Sindh govt to protest electricity shortage

Sindh agricultural minister claims electricity has only been provided to 756 villages in Sindh in last 14 months

KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to protest against the federal government for providing less electricity to the province, stated Sindh Agriculture Minister Ismail Rahoo on Thursday.

According to the minister, the Centre is displaying ‘unforgivable cruelty’ with the province that provides the highest revenue. He claimed that electricity had only been provided to 756 villages in Sindh in 14 months, while 3,613 villages in Punjab and 4,176 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had received power.

As a result, he maintained, the Sindh government would protest at meetings of the federal government. Rahoo added that the Centre was mistreating Sindh over important issues, including National Finance Commission awards, development, electricity, gas and jobs.

He claimed that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government’s rule was dangerous for national integrity, further saying that the silence of the Grand Democratic Alliance and Muttahida Qaumi Movement on the injustices against Sindh were condemnable.

The agriculture minister further alleged that cigarette companies had been exempted from Rs55 billion in taxes in exchange for donating one billion rupees to Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14^th, 2020.