In session: Sindh to privatise motor vehicle fitness dept

Transport minister says the contract will soon be awarded to an international firm

KARACHI:

The Sindh government has decided to privatise the motor vehicle fitness department for the inspection and issuance of fitness certificates to public transport, with the tender to award the contract to an international firm to be issued soon.

Provincial transport minister Mumtaz Jakhrani announced this in the Sindh Assembly session on Monday in response to a notice by Pakistan Muslim League-Functional MPA Nusrat Seher Abbasi to call the attention of the House to road accidents of buses and unfit vehicles plying the roads.

“We have nearly completed the process and the chief minister has given his approval for a public-private partnership with an international firm,” Jakhrani said. “The private company will open divisional offices and workshops with mobile inspection teams patrolling the roads.”

He said that an initial period will be given to owners of commercial and personal vehicles for the registration of their vehicles, after which strict action will be taken against them. “Only those vehicles registered with the firm will be allowed to ply on the roads.”

Jakhrani added that the Punjab government had already privatised its motor vehicle fitness department and Sindh would follow in its footsteps.

While talking to The Express Tribune, the minister explained that vehicle fitness and inspection, originally the responsibility of the traffic police, had been handed over to the transport department in April 2014 but the latter could not operate it due to the lack of resources and manpower.

Bribes and law enforcers

During the session, which started with deputy speaker Shehla Raza in the chair, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MPA Muhammad Hussain raised the issue of law enforcement agencies taking bribes and harassing the residents of Orangi Town.

“The people of Orangi Town are being illegally arrested, with law enforcers taking bribes for their release,” he said. “We have raised this issue in this august House and want to know what action has been taken so far.”

Sindh parliamentary affairs minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro, in his brief response, said that the provincial government was not interfering in the ongoing operation. “The police and other law enforcement agencies are free to take action,” he asserted. “If anyone has concerns, they should express them to the relevant authorities.”

Unrelieved loadshedding

The House also adopted a resolution condemning the power utility companies on the unending loadshedding in the province. The resolution was initially moved by Mandhro and Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Dr Sohrab Sarkari against loadshedding in rural Sindh but opposition parties insisted upon the inclusion of Karachi and Hyderabad as well.

A joint resolution moved by all parties in the assembly was later unanimously passed, demanding that the federal government, the Water and Power Development Authority, K-Electric, Hyderabad Electric Supply Company and Sukkur Electric Power Company end loadshedding in the province.

“Not just Karachi — Pakistan’s commercial hub — but rural Sindh’s agriculture and small and medium industries have suffered,” said Mandhro.

MQM’s Hussain also took up the matter of development schemes in Karachi while tabling the adjournment motion, saying that although these had been pending for three to four years, the government was reluctant to release the funds. He asked for the session to be adjourned so that the issue could be discussed.

“The member [Hussain] has not pointed out any area of the city; it is not specific, therefore we cannot debate upon it,” said Mandhro, terming the request out of order. The speaker later dismissed Hussain’s plea.

A bill to establish the Sindh Commission on the Status of Women was also introduced before the speaker adjourned the session till Tuesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2015.