Criticising the Sindh government officials for not visiting flood-hit areas to provide relief to the affected people, leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday said the federal government had been providing such people tankers of drinking water, rations and tents.
PTI’s parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Shaikh, who visited Naukot town of Thar region, said that a large number of houses in the area had been affected badly due to rainwater and diseases were spreading rapidly there. “I went there to find where the so-called aid of the Sindh government has gone. The chief minister has given just hollow statements,” said Shaikh, who is also the PTI’s central vice-president.
Shaikh said 76,000 tents of the Sindh CM were seen nowhere as thousands of families were displaced and forced to live under the sky.
He said Pakistan Peoples Party supremo Bilawal Bhutto Zardari wasted fuel of a helicopter for six days by touring the area but no assistance was given to the affected people. He added that the federal government had given funds to the Sindh government and it was the responsibility of the provincial revenue and administration officers to distribute those funds to provide relief to the flood-affected people.
During the coronavirus epidemic, the federal government had given Rs60 billion directly to the people of Sindh, the PTI leader claimed. “But on ground, the assistance of the Sindh government was seen nowhere.”
Shaikh said that after the 18th amendment, providing relief to such people was now the responsibility of the provincial governments. “But despite that, the federal government has helped the people of Sindh and not left them at the mercy of the provincial government that was completely insensitive to the plights of poor masses.”
He remarked that the National Disaster Management Authority was sending assistance to the rain- and flood-affected people of Sindh.
Commenting on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s demand for a new province in Sindh, Shaikh said that his party completely rejected the dual system or a new province in Sindh and wanted to strengthen the local government system.
He said both the MQM-P and PPP had been promoting and using ethnic hatred for political gains.
“I am a bigger Sindhi than Murad Ali Shah, as our ancestors had migrated from Rajasthan,” he said. “The vote bank of the MQM-P in Karachi and other parts has now gone and now they vote for and support the PTI.”
Shaikh said the 18th amendment had only strengthened the Bilawal House and therefore the PTI demanded a provincial finance commission award that would help resolve the issue of the province’s urban centres.