Sindh budget discriminates against urban areas: MQM-P

Observe that no new development projects have been announced in the city for over a year

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has rejected the provincial government's budget for upcoming fiscal year, terming it "discriminatory and oppressive."

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, MQM-P leaders alleged the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of neglecting Sindh's urban areas for the last 12 years, and said this budget was no exception to the party's discriminatory behaviour.

The leaders stated that with Karachi being allocated only Rs2.6 billion of Rs232 billion reserved in the budget for developmental works, a worrisome situation had been created. They maintained that the Sindh government was purposefully depriving the citizens of the metropolis of their rights as a punishment for not voting for the PPP.

No new development projects have been announced in the city for over a year, they observed.

They further claimed that the provincial government had taken Rs6,481 billion from Karachi and had spent around just Rs150 billion on its development over the past 12 years. According to them the city will be paying Rs1,175 billion to the Sindh finance department during the upcoming fiscal year and will get just Rs26.43 in return.

Highlighting the problems in urban areas, MQM-P representatives stated that the urban cities of Sindh were turning into ruins. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2020.