‘Sindh govt neglecting urban areas in budget’

MQM-P lawmakers continue their protest outside the provincial assembly

KARACHI: Continuing their sit-in outside the Sindh Assembly on Friday, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan leaders criticised the Sindh government for neglecting the urban areas of the province in the annual budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Attending Thursday's assembly session as a formality in order to record their protest before the Sindh Assembly speaker, MQM-P lawmakers has then joined the sit-in, declaring that they would continue to boycott the house until new developmental projects for urban Sindh were announced.

Delegations from the Sindh government visited the protesting MPAs and were briefed about the budget by the latter, who pointed out that the provincial government collected over 90 per cent of its revenue from Karachi, while Rs210 billion out of Rs235 billion in taxes were paid by the city's inhabitants.

They claimed that the metropolis had a share larger than 65 per cent in the funds allotted to Sindh under the National Finance Commission, but despite this, no new schemes had been announced for the city's education, transport, health or any other matters of public interest.

"We provided suggestions for the development of Sindh's urban areas, but the provincial government did not include them in the budget," complained MQM-P parliamentary leader Kunwar Naveed Jameel, adding that he and his fellow MPAs who believed that the Sindh government was not serious about resolving the province's problems would continue to protest, even widening the scale of their protest with time.

According to him, provincial ministers Nasir Hussain Shah, Saeed Ghani and Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh had visited the protesting MQM-P leaders to negotiate with them. "But we will review our decision to continue our protest after practical actions and provision of surety by the Sindh government," he stated.

He added that their doors were always open for negotiation, while a committee was being formed for discussions with the provincial government.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2020.