He said, He said: PPP leaders start mudslinging match over a plot for a driver’s father
CM expected to arrive to today to resolve the issue.
HYDERABAD:
The decision to give a plot of land to a household worker of the Pakistan Peoples Party’s Syed Mardan Shah has started a war between party leaders in Umerkot, each trying to outdo each other with corruption allegations.
At the centre of the storm is Syed Mardan Shah who runs the PPP in Umerkot district.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was the decision to favour a domestic worker. It appears that the father of Syed Mardan Shah’s driver, a man identified as Pelah Jat, was given 466 square yards on Chorr Road by the town’s municipal authority. It was leased at Rs500 per month. The letter giving him the plot says that the town was acting on the orders of the PPP’s Agha Siraj Durrani, the minister for local bodies.
Angered Talpurs
MNA Nawab Yousuf Talpur and his son MPA Taimur Talpur are incensed over the plot. “This is condemnable,” said Nawab Yousuf referring to the allotment. He went on to make other allegations: “The party workers are also annoyed with the way [Syed Mardan] Shah is distributing jobs.”
Nawab Yousuf alleged that Shah and the chief minister of Sindh had been ignoring the district and had not included their family in development schemes. He claimed that whenever they proposed a development programme, it went nowhere.
Speaking in his village in Kunri on Wednesday, the MNA said that the Sindh government had given millions of rupees to an irrigation project on a recommendation from Syed Mardan Shah but the proposal he [Talpur] sent for irrigation schemes in Mitharu canal’s subdivision were rejected. “There was a water shortage in my area,” Nawab Yousuf said. “The situation got worse when people did not even have water to drink.”
Nawab Yousuf has accused Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, also of the PPP, for not rehabilitating flood-hit areas and breaking his promise to construct a road connecting Kunri and Umerkot.
The other side of the district
For his part, Syed Mardan Shah retaliated at a press conference of his own in Umerkot on Thursday by claiming that MNA Nawab Yousuf and his son were themselves involved in corruption and were giving out incorrect information. “The Talpurs spent five million rupees on constructing his house. The money he used was supposed to go to a community centre.”
He went on to say that during the floods last year, the MNA and his family were living at Circuit House at the government’s expense. Shah, who is also a minister, accused the MNA of using flood money on select areas.
He rejected the MNA’s claims that the government rejected their projects and added that the Talpurs were given Rs300 million for irrigation, while he had only received Rs50 million for his constituency. According to the minister, the Talpurs were handling schemes worth Rs180 million from development projects worth Rs480 million.
“At the moment there are 124 roads being constructed and repaired in the district, out of these nearly 40 were recommended by the Talpurs,” he said. “Around six primary schools in Talpur’s constituency have also been upgraded to higher secondary schools.” He added that the MPA received an annual development fund of Rs40 million and additional funds for the construction of five-kilometre roads.
Out of the mouth of the MPA
Nawab Yousuf’s son, Taimur, challenged Shah to prove how he collected his wealth. “We have family property, land and cars, but how does the minister have all of this?” he said. “… He stole millions from the town’s funds and collected over Rs32 million each month from department officials.” He added that when millions went allegedly missing from the education department’s funds, he raised the issue in the Sindh Assembly but nothing happened. As the rift keeps intensifying, the chief minister was asked to visit. He is expected to arrive in Umerkot on Saturday (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2012.
The decision to give a plot of land to a household worker of the Pakistan Peoples Party’s Syed Mardan Shah has started a war between party leaders in Umerkot, each trying to outdo each other with corruption allegations.
At the centre of the storm is Syed Mardan Shah who runs the PPP in Umerkot district.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was the decision to favour a domestic worker. It appears that the father of Syed Mardan Shah’s driver, a man identified as Pelah Jat, was given 466 square yards on Chorr Road by the town’s municipal authority. It was leased at Rs500 per month. The letter giving him the plot says that the town was acting on the orders of the PPP’s Agha Siraj Durrani, the minister for local bodies.
Angered Talpurs
MNA Nawab Yousuf Talpur and his son MPA Taimur Talpur are incensed over the plot. “This is condemnable,” said Nawab Yousuf referring to the allotment. He went on to make other allegations: “The party workers are also annoyed with the way [Syed Mardan] Shah is distributing jobs.”
Nawab Yousuf alleged that Shah and the chief minister of Sindh had been ignoring the district and had not included their family in development schemes. He claimed that whenever they proposed a development programme, it went nowhere.
Speaking in his village in Kunri on Wednesday, the MNA said that the Sindh government had given millions of rupees to an irrigation project on a recommendation from Syed Mardan Shah but the proposal he [Talpur] sent for irrigation schemes in Mitharu canal’s subdivision were rejected. “There was a water shortage in my area,” Nawab Yousuf said. “The situation got worse when people did not even have water to drink.”
Nawab Yousuf has accused Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, also of the PPP, for not rehabilitating flood-hit areas and breaking his promise to construct a road connecting Kunri and Umerkot.
The other side of the district
For his part, Syed Mardan Shah retaliated at a press conference of his own in Umerkot on Thursday by claiming that MNA Nawab Yousuf and his son were themselves involved in corruption and were giving out incorrect information. “The Talpurs spent five million rupees on constructing his house. The money he used was supposed to go to a community centre.”
He went on to say that during the floods last year, the MNA and his family were living at Circuit House at the government’s expense. Shah, who is also a minister, accused the MNA of using flood money on select areas.
He rejected the MNA’s claims that the government rejected their projects and added that the Talpurs were given Rs300 million for irrigation, while he had only received Rs50 million for his constituency. According to the minister, the Talpurs were handling schemes worth Rs180 million from development projects worth Rs480 million.
“At the moment there are 124 roads being constructed and repaired in the district, out of these nearly 40 were recommended by the Talpurs,” he said. “Around six primary schools in Talpur’s constituency have also been upgraded to higher secondary schools.” He added that the MPA received an annual development fund of Rs40 million and additional funds for the construction of five-kilometre roads.
Out of the mouth of the MPA
Nawab Yousuf’s son, Taimur, challenged Shah to prove how he collected his wealth. “We have family property, land and cars, but how does the minister have all of this?” he said. “… He stole millions from the town’s funds and collected over Rs32 million each month from department officials.” He added that when millions went allegedly missing from the education department’s funds, he raised the issue in the Sindh Assembly but nothing happened. As the rift keeps intensifying, the chief minister was asked to visit. He is expected to arrive in Umerkot on Saturday (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2012.