Those responsible for substandard roads will be held accountable: Ghani

The Sindh Assembly was informed on Monday that no major eventuality occurred anywhere in the province during the recent heavy rains because of the precautionary steps and emergency protection measures taken by the provincial government.

Sindh Senior Minister for Information, Excise & Taxation, and Transport Sharjeel Inam Memon said this during his remarks on the floor of the House. He claimed that the Sindh government took the necessary safety precautions as soon as the warning of heavy monsoon rains was issued by the Pakistan Meteorological Department.

He told the legislature that the entire administrative machinery of the Sindh government led by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had been active to minimise the losses due to heavy rains. He claimed that mayors of cities and elected local government representatives had also worked well during the ongoing rain emergency.

Memon said that Badin had received a maximum of 200 millimetres of rain in Sindh during the last spell. He also informed the House that the Sindh government would provide solar home systems free of charge to 200,000 underprivileged families. In the second phase of the project, 500,000 deprived households would be given free solar panels.

The information minister told the lawmakers that the Sindh government would launch a major training initiative to impart free-of-cost IT education to 10,000 students. He claimed that the law and order situation had improved due to steps taken by the provincial government and the street crime rate in Karachi had reduced to half.

He also reiterated the firm commitment of the Sindh government to eliminate the menace of narcotics in the province. He mentioned that a female driver behind the recent tragic accident on Karsaz had been driving under the influence of drugs.

Gender-based violence

Meanwhile, the Sindh Assembly was informed that around 100 incidents of gender-based violence had been reported to the Sindh government last year. This was disclosed by Sindh Women Development Minister Shaheena Sher Ali during the question hour of the session. She told the House that justice had been served in 35 such cases.

She assured the concerned lawmakers that the Sindh government had been fulfilling all its legal and constitutional duties to ensure justice for the victims of such incidents. She informed the House that 22 daycare centres were working in the province for the protection of children of working women. One such centre had been working on Abdullah Haroon Road in Karachi and another on the campus of the University of Karachi, she said, adding that the Sindh government would establish three new daycare centres.

Explosives policy

Meanwhile, Sindh Law, Home and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar presented a resolution in the house urging the federal government to adopt its own policy to deal with the explosive materials.

The House was informed that two other provincial legislatures in the country had already passed such resolutions following the 18th Constitutional Amendment to authorise the federal government to adopt a national explosives policy.

Meanwhile, responding to a call attention notice, the home minister told the House that five armed dacoits had been killed in the province in the last two months while eight bandits were injured and 27 robbers arrested by law enforcement agencies in the same period.

He said police recovered 24 weapons from the possession of armed bandits. Policemen had been laying down their lives to protect the lives and belongings of the law-abiding people, Lanjar remarked, adding that unsuspecting people should not fall into the trap of buying products at cheap rates, going after marriage proposals, or seeking friendship with females as these were the temptations mostly used by the bandits to lure unsuspecting people to visit areas nearby Sindh’s riverine belt for abducting them for ransom. He told the House that there were still two kidnapped persons in the custody of bandits in the province.

Karachi roads

Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani informed the lawmakers that repair work on the main roads in Karachi damaged due to rainwater would begin as soon as the monsoon season came to an end.

He stated this while responding to call attention notices submitted by opposition legislators. Ghani remarked that monsoon rains in Karachi had been continuing for a prolonged period. He said that after repairing the highways, work would immediately be launched to restore small roads, alleys and streets in different areas of the city damaged due to monsoon rains.

He said the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation under the Competitive and Livable City of Karachi (CLICK) project had carried out work to either build or restore 400 roads in the city. He said that recent rains had damaged around 14 to 15 of these roads.

Ghani assured the concerned lawmakers that the Sindh government would conduct a probe into these damages and those responsible for damages caused to newly constructed or repaired roads in the city in rain would be taken to task. He said repair work could not be immediately launched to restore roads in Karachi as the monsoon season was not over. Some areas of the provincial capital had received up to 200 to 250mm of rain in different spells, the LG minister said.