PA passes bill to allow cantonment boards to collect property tax on behalf of Sindh govt

The Sindh Assembly on Monday passed the Sindh Urban Immovable Property Tax (Amendment) Bill 2024 that authorises the provincial government to collect property tax from the cantonment areas of the province.

According to the bill, the cantonment boards would continue to collect this tax on behalf of the Sindh government after deducting two per cent of service charges.

The decision to allow the cantonment boards to continue collecting the tax was recently taken in a cabinet meeting.

Drug prices

Meanwhile, the legislature was denied the opportunity to discuss the troubling economic situation for the masses due to the constant rise in the retail prices of essential medicines in the country.

A female lawmaker belonging to the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, Khairunisa Mughal, presented an adjournment motion to this effect so that the House could discuss the situation arising from the constant increase in the prices of essential drugs.

Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, however, opposed the motion stating that it would be utterly difficult for the pharmaceutical companies to continue with their businesses in the country if the prices of the medicines were reduced.

The health minister told the House that the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) had the mandate to regulate the prices of medicines in the country.

She said the operational expenses of the pharmaceutical companies had increased due to the cost of import of raw materials required to produce medicines in the country.

She added that the multinational drug producers would be compelled to wind up their businesses and leave the country if they were forced to curtail the prices of medicines. She disclosed that certain pharmaceutical producers had already decided to shut down their businesses in the country.

The health minister said the drug manufacturers had informed the government that it would not be feasible for them to keep producing and marketing medicines in the country at prices lower than the existing rates.

The prices of medicines would further be increased if they were imported instead of produced in the country, Dr Azra said, adding that it would not be feasible to launch a drive to curtail the prices of drugs.

She maintained that medicines were being provided to the deserving patients free of charge from the government-run hospitals.

Afterwards, the female PPP lawmaker agreed to take back her motion.

Law and order

The House was also assured that the Sindh government had the intention to provide financial compensation to the heirs of the innocent citizens who lost their lives in the bloody incidents of street crimes in Karachi.

Sindh Law and Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar gave assurance to this effect while responding to a call-attention notice given by the leader of the opposition, Ali Khursheedi, belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).

The home minister informed the House that the culprit behind the murder of Itteqa Moeen, a gold medallist engineer who was recently killed in a street robbery incident in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, had been arrested. He assured the lawmakers that the Sindh government had been doing its best to overcome the menacing situation of armed street crimes in the city.

Lanjar said the government had released funds for the Safe City project to be launched in Karachi. He claimed that the rate of street crime incidents had decreased compared to the number of such instances in January this year.

Responding to another call attention notice presented by MQM-P lawmaker Rashid Khan, the home minister said the Sindh government had issued directives to the authorities concerned to relocate the shops of LPG dealers away from residential areas to prevent any incident similar to the recent Preetabad tragedy in Hyderabad.

The minister, however, said the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority had the mandate to ensure that LPG gas was supplied to the consumers in cylinders of top quality. He said the Sindh government had been fully aware that human lives should not be lost due to use of substandard cylinders for LPG supply.

He said the Sindh government would soon announce compensation for the bereaved families who lost their near and dear ones in the deadly LPG cylinder blast incident in Hyderabad.