Rs3.3b announced for Umerkot, Rs280m to go to representatives

CM allocates Rs400m for beautification of Mirpurkhas.

MIRPURKHAS/ UMERKOT:

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah announced Rs3.3 billion for development projects in Umerkot and an additional Rs280 million for the elected representatives of the district, at the cabinet meeting on Saturday.

“Projects of building roads, clean drinking water, drainage, agriculture and irrigation, will all be completed as a priority,” said the chief minister. He did not, however, declare parts of the district as drought-hit despite being pressured by the local people to do so.

He added that the provincial assembly will legislate on the rights of the minorities soon and the issue of property for peasants will also be resolved.

The meeting came on the heels of a quarrel between two stalwarts of the Pakistan Peoples Party, MNA Nawab Yousuf Talpur and provincial minister Syed Mardan Shah. Both sides were taken up with a slanging match, lasting for over a week, during which they accused each other of corruption and smuggling. The infighting delayed the cabinet meeting in Umerkot which was initially scheduled for August. At a recent meeting at CM House in Karachi, however, the two sides decided to tone down their public outbursts.

Utilising money

Additional chief secretary planning and development, Malik Israr, informed the meeting that the district has been given a budget of Rs1.7 billion. Around Rs500 million from the district’s budget and Rs1.1 billion under the foreign-funded development schemes will be spent on Umerkot’s development.

With a population of around 950,000 people, the district needs a number of infrastructure, civic, educational and health facilities. “We have government hospitals in each taluka and district,” said the president of the local traders association, Khalid Siraj Soomro, while talking to Sindh Express. “The government seems to be ready to rebuild the rain-hit infrastructure but providing the manpower [doctors and paramedics] isn’t a concern for them.”

Soomro said that the demand to declare the nine union councils of Umerkot drought-hit was brought up. “Our areas coterminous with Thar are also dependent on rainfall which they did not receive this year.” The trader also complained that the water supply and drainage schemes, initiated by the former Sindh government, are pending as funds have not been released.

Meanwhile, barbs flew at the meeting between the supporters of Talpur and Shah. The PPP district president, Allah Bachayo Aseer, reiterated corruption charges on the Talpurs while the taluka presidents of Kunri, Samaro, Pithoro and Umerkot fought back by accusing the provincial minister Mardan Shah of the same.

Mirpurkhas

The chief minister also announced Rs400 million for development in Mirpurkhas but MNA Pir Aftab Shah Jilani’s demand for Rs1 billion was not approved. The funds will be spent on beautifying the city, said Shah.

A passport office and a circuit bench of the Sindh High Court are also planned for the district.

MNA Jilani also demanded the immediate release of Rs150 million for the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Sports Complex. He said that the project was still waiting on Rs110 million from the government. MPA Shamim Ara Panhwar proposed that an intensive care unit should open in the district hospital.

Ministers Syed Ali Murad Shah, Sharjeel Memon, Agha Siraj Durrani, Syed Ali Nawaz Shah, Muzaffar Hussain Shujra, Jam Saifullah Dharejo and Syed Ali Mardan Shah attended the cabinet meeting. Among the MNAs present were Mir Munawar Talpur, Nawab Yousuf Talpur, Rubina Qaimkhani and Pir Aftab Shah Jilani. The ministers of the coalition partners in Sindh government, however, were not present.

Shah also held a meeting with the representatives of the district’s traders and growers.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2012.