‘Why call it Sindh Revenue Board when only Karachi pays taxes?’

As the Sindh Assembly passed five government bills on Wednesday, the treasury and opposition benches squabbled over one of them meant to amend the Sindh Revenue Board Act, 2010 with the latter arguing that the body was actually the Karachi Revenue Board because the government collected all taxes from the city.

Participating in the general discussion on the proposed Sindh Revenue Board (Amendment) Bill, 2017, opposition leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement said he burst into laughter listening to the statements of the government.

He added that the House was being informed that the Sindh government’s revenue board collected Rs60 billion every year.

“Whenever the House is convened to hold a debate on fiscal matters, all treasury members are seen smiling as that is also the time when the chief minister gets ready to sit in the House for two hours,” he remarked.

“But whenever the times come to disburse the money, the chief minister has no time to spare.”

Pointing towards the treasury benches, the opposition leader said, “You are not supposed to spend all this money on Karachi, but at least spend it on one of the union councils in Sindh. It’s a matter between you and the people who have voted for the Pakistan People’s Party as they are the ones who are in a great deal of distress.”

He said the Sindh government was treating Karachi liken a hen that laid golden eggs.

“The Sindh government has no justification to agitate against the injustice meted out to it in issuance of the National Finance Commission award as it has never given due attention to the provincial finance commission.”

The opposition leader said the provincial government was merely using the money collecting in taxes to prolong its “autocratic rule”.

“At least build one model school, a hospital and a dispensary in your constituencies that you can show to the media. People are dying of hunger in Tharparkar but you people are indulged in pleasures and wearing golden crowns,” he snapped, referring to PPP leader and former provincial minister Sharjel Inam Memom who was welcomed with a crown of gold on his return to his constituency.

When the opposition leader was criticising the performance of the provincial government, tempers started boiling on the treasury benches.

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah responded that the opposition was unable to tolerate the speech delivered by his predecessor Qaim Ali Shah on the same amendment bill earlier in the proceedings.

“The opposition is finding it hard to digest the achievements of the PPP in connection with the NFC award and the collection of revenue mentioned by the former chief minister,” he added.

“You [the opposite leader] are bursting into laughter but you should remember that we are protecting you from those who can cause you a lot of trouble. You are no longer uttering the name of the person who you used to mention on every occasion. If you are courageous enough, then utter the name of that person now instead of making effort to promote prejudice in Sindh,” the chief minister said referring to MQM founder Altaf Hussain without naming him.

Pointing towards MQM parliamentary party Syed Sardar Ahmed, the chief minister said, “Sardar sahib remembers the old issues well but he comfortably chooses to forget the issues of the near past. You have also remained the finance minister of the province and you did nothing when your government amended the finance bill on two occasions”

Shah said at that time, 70 percent revenue of the country was collected from Sindh but the province was only given 23 percent of it.

The chief minister said the PPP had always given priority to the interests of Sindh and he had just written a letter to the prime minister on unfair treatment meted out to the province in terms of the share of natural gas.

Parliamentary affairs minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said the opposition lawmakers had learnt no lessons as in their speeches they were promoting the message of prejudice.

He added that the opposition legislators should keep in mind that Karachi was the capital city of Sindh and an integral part of the province.

Without naming Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Khuhro said the one who had spent 10 years in exile was now making tall claims, but in fact his political party had been confined to one province only.

Earlier in his speech, former chief minister Qaim Ali Shah said prior to to devolution of the revenue collection authority to the provinces, Sindh was receiving only Rs5 billion as its share in tax collection. But now he added, the provincial revenue collection had increased to Rs25 billion even though the provincial government was collecting taxes for the first time.

He said the revenue collection of Sindh in the present year had increased to Rs60 billion and in next two years, it would reach Rs100 billion.

The other bills adopted by the House included the Sindh Coal Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Jacobabad Institute of Medical Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Sindh Development and Maintenance of Infrastructure Cess Bill, 2017 and the Sindh Shaheed Recognition and Compensation (Amendment) Bill-2017.