Finance minister changes PTI lawmaker’s resolution for speeding up work on Karachi’s bulk water supply schemes to include provincial govt’s ‘efforts’ to address problem
Karachi
A day after their uproar over the passage of the sales tax amendment bill, the opposition lawmakers were again up in arms during the Sindh Assembly proceedings on Tuesday when an amended version of the resolution for speeding up work on Karachi’s bulk water supply schemes was adopted wherein the provincial government’s “efforts” to resolve the city’s water crisis were recognised.
The lawmakers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf were outraged that at the time of the passage of the resolution, there were more opposition MPAs in the House than those belonging to the ruling Pakistan People’s Party and therefore it could not have been adopted with the content added by the treasury’s side.
It started with opposition PTI MPA Khurram Sher Zaman presenting a resolution the text of which was, “This House resolves [urges] the government to take immediate notice of the long-standing delay in the two ongoing water supply schemes for Karachi City of 165 MGD.”
The resolution also provided the details of the schemes including the replacement of a 100 MGD pumping station, water supply schemes of 65 MGD from Haleji to Pipri, and release of funds for the repair and maintenance of bulk supply pumps.
Finance and energy minister Murad Ali Shah informed the House about the allocation and release of funds by his department for the development schemes of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board.
The minister said the KWSB’s problems stemmed from the overstaffing of the water utility.
He proposed an amended version of the resolution to be moved in the House that recognised the efforts of provincial government on the issue and suggested that the words “long-standing delay” be replaced with “expedite”.
The amended version of the resolution moved by the minister read: “While recognising the efforts of Sindh government in resolving water supply issues in Karachi, this House resolves that the government should expedite work on two ongoing water supply schemes for Karachi city of 165 MGD.”
The mover of the original resolution on the insistence of the treasury benches agreed to amend his resolution to the extent that the words “long-standing delay” be replaced with the “expedite”.
The PTI lawmaker said that he had consented to a partial amendment in his resolution so that the resolution could be passed as its substance was related to a major civic issue being faced by people of Karachi.
However, he and other opposition lawmakers said they were not ready to give credit to the provincial government to making efforts to address Karachi’s water supply issue as in reality it had done nothing noteworthy to resolve it.
Speaking on the resolution, MQM’s Khawaja Izharul Hassan, the leader of the opposition in the House, said the provincial government had consistently been ignoring Karachi’s water woes because of which the crisis had worsened in recent days.
He added that there were over 100 illegal water hydrants currently operating in the city.
He alleged that during the tenure of a former local government minister who was now abroad to escape the accountability drive, billions were illegally earned through the operations of water hydrants.
He added that a single water hydrant could generate an income of Rs150 million each month.
Local government minister Jam Khan Shoro told the House that the provincial government had prepared a proposal for giving the contract of the K-IV bulk water supply scheme to the Frontier Works Organisation and it would be completed in two years. The amended resolution moved by the finance minister was passed through a majority vote as speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani used the usual method of “voice vote” for ist passage.
The opposition lawmakers said the speaker instead should order a division of the House for a proper head count of the lawmakers to ascertain exactly how many legislators were in favour of the amended resolution.
They added that as they were in majority in the House at that time, the resolution could not have been passed.
Earlier, the House unanimously passed a private resolution moved by MQM legislator Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan Kamali calling upon the government to upgrade the Government Polytechnic Institute, Mirpurkhas to the status of a college.
LNG-based power plants
Earlier, the finance and energy minister informed the House that a meeting of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) had been convened in Islamabad in the coming few days. He added that he would represent Sindh at the forum and sternly oppose the proposed LNG-based power projects being envisaged in Punjab.
He said the import of LNG and its use for constructing new power projects were national level policies whose mandatory approval had yet to be obtained from the Council of Common Interests in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
He said the CCI should meet after every 90 days as per the Constitution but there had been none in the last 11 months. He said the Sindh chief minister had written several times to Islamabad on the issue and the Senate chairman too had given a ruling for the early convening of a CCI meeting.