The Sindh lawmakers feel the Centre has started neglecting them by giving less budgetary allocations to the province as compared to Punjab. PHOTO: ONLINE
Members of the Sindh Assembly are upset with the Centre.
They feel that Karachi, the city of lights, is always treated as a step-child when compared to Lahore. They claim that Lahore gets the right allocations, the right development funds and schemes while Karachi is left with hand-me-downs.
"Every prime minister, every president the country has had gives special packages to Lahore and neglects Karachi," said Muttahida Qaumi Movement's deputy parliamentary leader Khwaja Izharul Hassan while discussing the budget at the Sindh Assembly on Friday. "This is unfair. Karachi is the economical hub of the country."
According to Hassan, not only had the federal government 'blessed' Lahore with funds, but the government of Punjab had earmarked 40% of its provincial development budget for the city. Karachi, he said, is nowhere on the government's priority list.
"The people of Karachi are facing a water shortage. The Sindh government has allocated Rs1 billion for K-V project, a drinking water project which will take years to complete," he said, adding that Rs42 billion were allocated for Karachi out of which more than Rs20 billion will be spent on renovating and reconstructing government buildings.
In case of a fire in the city, Hassain claimed that the residents would be helpless as more than 50% of fire stations in the city were not functional. He added that most departments which have supposed to deal with disasters were not properly equipped or did not have enough resources.
Hussain then directed the House's attention to the local government elections and said that no money had been allocated for it. He added that the government had promised to hold LG elections this year but since they had not kept any funds for it the government was clearly not serious about it.
Cops with hepatitis
Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) MPA Nand Kumar brought up the issue of policemen with hepatitis. "Why are sick people suffering from a deadly disease working in the police department?" he asked. "Can these patients perform well or control criminal or militant activities in the province?" He added that he had medical reports of many policemen which confirmed that they were hepatitis patients.
Graveyards for Hindus
Discussing the budget for minorities, Kumar said that the Sindh government had allocated funds for renovating the temples, but what about graveyards for the Hindu scheduled caste. He added that the Hindus did not have a separate graveyard and this created a problem. The government, he said, should think about this.
The MPA added that forced conversions and kidnapping for ransom cases had made their lives miserable and the government had failed to do anything to help.
A messy session
Friday's assembly session had many messy moments as MPAs from the treasury and opposition benches kept getting at each others' throats by passing rude comments about their leaders.
The deputy speaker of the House, Shehla Raza, said something about Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairperson Imran Khan which led MPAs of his party to create a lot of hue and cry.
The speaker of the assembly had to step in and ask both parties to calm down.
Then, the fisheries minister, Jam Khan Shoro accused the Shirazis of Thatta of occupying acres of forest land. The Shirazis, who are now affiliated with the PML-N objected to these allegations made against them. The speaker, again, asked the men on both sides to take a deep breath and sit down. He adjourned the session and said they would continue with assembly matters on Monday.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2014.
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