‘PM to announce Rs446 bn package for Sindh today’

By Our Correspondent
April 16, 2021

SUKKUR: The leader of the opposition in Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Shaikh, has said Prime Minister Imran Khan would unveil a mega development package of Rs446 bn for Sindh on Friday (today) which they were not given during the last 13 years. He said the prime minister will also visit Karachi.

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He said PM Imran would attend an event of Kamyab Jawan Programme and would also visit a cash centre of Ehsaas Kafalat Programme. The PM is also likely to meet Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its ally Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) members in Sukkur.

Addressing a press conference at the IBA Sukkur, flanked by PTI Sukkur region Syed Tahir Shah, general secretary Mubin Jatoi, Dr Abbas Papu Chachar, Amir Abro and others, the PTI leader claimed that a new day will dawn for Sindh on Friday.

Referring to the annoucement by the Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry regarding prime minister’s mega development package of Rs446 billion for Sindh, the PTI leader said the amount would be in addition to Rs1,100 billion of the Karachi package. He said the PTI government is taking all possible steps to end the sense of deprivation among the people of Sindh who got nothing in 13 years of the PPP rule.

He said the federal government wants to issue health cards, but the Sindh government is posing obstacles. He said 70 percent people of Sindh drink contaminated water and suffer from waterborne diseases and some forms of jaundice. Measles, AIDS, hepatitis and other diseases are also spreading fast in Sindh due to callousness of the provincial government. He said the provincial government has stopped children’s vaccination for the last eight months to their peril. Medicines and vaccines for snake and dog bite are not available in the government hospitals and people are increasingly suffering from stray dog attacks.

The PTI leader said that the federal government gave Sindh Rs 60 billion. He said massive funds for development were spent in district Matiari, besides several other districts. Shaikh said the jobless youth of the province are being given loans up to Rs one million. He said cash assistance was given to 1.9 million beneficiaries of Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme who received two installments of Rs6,000 in one go.

He said during the last 13 years, Rs780 billion were given to Sindh, but no development can be seen anywhere. The PTI leader said according to the P&D department, out of Rs 700 billion uplift budget, only Rs 600 billion were actually spent and even out of that Rs267 billion went to the pockets of the corrupt mafia. Similarly, 65 percent revenue is generated from Karachi, but the megacity remains littered with garbage.

The PTI leader questioned the Sindh government about its performance in the province and alleged the Omni Group manipulated the poor and through their CNICs obtained tractors on subsidised rates and sold them to Punjab for profit.

Shaikh said billions were spent in Sukkur but still heaps of garbage are lying around everywhere in the city. He said similarly billions of rupees were spent on irrigation schemes to benefit some blue-eyed.

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