Opposition demands special development funds for Karachi

Opposition lawmakers on Tuesday urged the Sindh government to allocate special funds for swiftly developing Karachi, and for resolving the city’s longstanding civic issues, including acute water shortage in numerous residential areas.

During the second session of the pre-budget discussion in the provincial assembly, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) MPA Ejazul Haq said he represents Orangi Town, which is considered one of the largest slums on the Asian continent.

Haq lamented that the provincial government has been doing nothing to transform the town’s status from a large squatter settlement. He said the locals continue to be treated as third-rate citizens. They also suffer because of an acute water crisis, he added.

Women Development Minister Shaheena Sher Ali urged the transport minister to increase the fleet of buses of the Sindh Peoples Bus Service in the city. She said the provincial government has launched several projects to ensure women’s empowerment.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Sajjad Soomro asked the government to resolve gas and electricity issues in Lyari. He said the government should also initiate sewerage schemes in his constituency. An utter lack of civic and utility services have virtually turned Lyari into a tribal area, he added.

MQM-P legislator Mazahair Ameer Khan demanded that Eid bonuses be announced for government employees in addition to increasing their salaries in the upcoming provincial budget. He said the government should resolve water supply issue of Karachi and other parts of Sindh.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MPA Qasim Siraj Soomro asked the government to reserve funds for laying water supply line for Tharparkar residents. He complained that basic health units are missing in several Tharparkar union councils. He also called for constructing more cardiac care units in Thar.

PPP lawmaker Jameel Soomro asked the government to build a state-of-the-art hospital in Larkana. He informed the PA that for the first time a proper waste disposal system involving a Chinese contractor has been launched in Larkana.

MQM-P legislator Sheikh Abdullah said the water crisis is one of the gravest civic problems in Karachi. He said residents of his constituency are completely deprived of potable water.

MQM-P lawmaker Naseer Ahmed announced that he would not speak in the House to register his protest against the failure of the Sindh government to launch any development scheme in his constituency comprising Manghopir.

The Auqaf minister said that new irrigation canals’ construction on the Indus River would ruin Sindh’s coastal belt due to sea intrusion caused by a lack of freshwater in the Indus Delta area. The new farming plans in Punjab will prove devastating for Sindh’s agricultural sector, he added.

Legislator Bilquees Mukhtar of the MQM-P claimed that medicines are being sold at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and other public health facilities in Karachi. She said the provincial government has completely ignored the city’s development despite the city generating the maximum revenue for the public exchequer. She urged the government to devolve its powers to the local governments in the province.