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MQM hits out at govt for ‘ignoring’ uplift proposals

Party being perceived as having ‘no power to solve public issues’

By Azeem Samar
January 23, 2015
Karachi
Development schemes proposed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) for Karachi are being ignored by the government, giving credence to the notion that even though the party is part of the Sindh Assembly, it does not have the power to solve basic public issues, the opposition lawmakers told the House on Thursday.
While MQM legislators complained about non-release or delayed release of funds for major uplift schemes, the lawmakers of Functional and Nawaz leagues protested against discriminatory approach of the government as regards developmental projects in their respective constituencies.
MQM legislators said that while the party’s proposals were being ignored, the government had been releasing funds for civic projects named after Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders, who were being given preference despite their non-representative status in the elected houses.
The treasury benches said the opposition lawmakers’ allegations were unfounded and unsubstantiated, as the government had always preferred completion of developmental works in the city at the earliest.
Commotion resulted in the House when MQM’s Muhammad Hussain, on a short-notice question and a call-attention notice, raised two major civic and developmental issues concerning Karachi.
The lawmaker said employees of majority of the 178 union councils (UCs) in the city had not been provided their salaries for the past several months.
He said the finance department released Rs200,000 a month for every UC, but due to bureaucratic hassles, the UC administrations only received Rs75,000.
Hussain said that while major uplift schemes were being ignored, the government had released Rs2.89 billion for developmental projects associated with or named after unelected PPP leaders.
He said constituencies held by opposition members were being ignored as regards uplift schemes despite the government’s promise that under the Annual Development Programme, the ongoing projects would be completed before launching new schemes.
MQM’s deputy parliamentary leader in the assembly, Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan, said development schemes proposed by some 51 lawmakers of his party were being ignored by the government.
He said the government would once again be asked to look into the party’s proposals, adding that he was sure that the fate of the uplift schemes would remain in the doldrums.
Responding to the call-attention notice, Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah said that for the current financial year, the government had allocated a development budget of over Rs32 billion for Karachi, of which around Rs10 billion had already been released.
Shah said the release amount of development funds for the city was around 33 percent, which was similar in the rest of the provinces, so there was no reason to blame the government for “ignoring Karachi’s development issue”.
He invited the MQM lawmakers to meet him in official capacity for resolving the issues of non-release or delayed release of funds for development projects of the city.
Opposition leader in the House, Shaharyar Mahar of the Functional League, said important civic and municipal works in his constituency and town municipal administration of Lakhi, Shikarpur, were being ignored as the relevant town municipal officer (TMO) had been exhibiting indifference to his official duties.
According to Mahar, the TMO boasts that he could not be sacked despite his unsatisfactory performance because he had connections to senior government officials, including the local government (LG) minister.
In response, LG Minister Sharjeel Memon said the opposition leader had levelled unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations of a personal nature against him, adding that he could also claim that Mahar was involved in corruption and embezzlement.
Functional League lawmaker Imtiaz Sheikh said that besides the constituencies of the opposition, the status of development works in the rest of Sindh was also the same, raising doubts about the performance of the PPP government in the province.