Zardari wants Sindh govt on its toes

Karachi
Former Pakistan president and Pakistan People’s Party chief Asif Zardari directed the Sindh government on Tuesday to improve the municipal and health services and educational standards in the province.
“I want to see a clean, healthy and wealthy Sindh,” he said while presiding over a meeting at the Chief Minister’s House.
Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, education minister Nisar Khuhro, information and local bodies minister Sharjeel Memon, health minister Jam Mehtab Dahar, parliamentary affairs minister Dr Sikander Mandhro and chief secretary Siddiq Memon were among those who attended the meeting.
The chief minister briefed his party chief about the performance of the provincial government. “The law and order has improved. Presently, not a single person in Karachi has been kidnapped,” Shah maintained.
The chief minister said over 4,000 closed schools had been made reopened and provided with teaching and non-teaching staff. “We have given special attention to girls’ education. This would empower the province’s women as envisioned by Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed,” he added.
The chief minister also told Zardari that he had visited Tharparkar over 10 times. “The hospitals in Mithi and different talukas of Tharparkar have been equipped with the necessary equipment. Never in the history of Tharparkar has such facilities been provided to its residents.”
Zardari directed the chief minister to take necessary measures to improve the municipal and health services in the province.
“You have to provide a healthy atmosphere to the people of Sindh by improving municipal services and likewise, health services also need to be improved,” he said
“Medicines and laboratory tests at government hospitals must be free of charge,” he ordered.
Zardari further advised the chief minister to give special attention to the education department so that not a single child remains out of school in the province.
He also said proper quality of development schemes must be ensured.
After the meeting, Zardari went to the nearby Governor’s House. There, he discussed the ongoing political situation in the country with governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan.
This was Ebad’s first meeting with the former president since the controversial video of death-row inmate Saulat Mirza had emerged in which he had accused the governor of using his influence to grant special favours to Muttahida Qaumi Movement activists in jails. After the video surfaced, rumours were making the rounds that Ebad would soon be replaced.
However, the governor has been carrying on with his duties unaffected.
1,000 flats for Lyari’s poor
Separately while presiding over a meeting to review the development schemes in Lyari, the chief minister directed the local government department to take necessary measures to implement the development package for the impoverished town that includes uplift schemes costing Rs1 billion, provision of water within three months and the establishment of an engineering college there.
The meeting was attended by local government minister Sharjeel Memon, katchi abadis minister Jawed Nagori, chief minister’s principal secretary Alamuddin Bullo, additional chief secretary (development) Waseem Ahmed, local government secretary Imran Atta Soomro, special initiative secretary Aijaz Ali Baig, Karachi Municipal Corporation administrator Saqib Soomro, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board managing director Qutubddin Shaikh and representatives of Lyari.
The katchi abadis minister said Lyari was located in the tail area of the city below the sea level. Therefore, he added, the revamping of its drainage system needed to be given first priority.
The chief minister directed the local government minister to upgrade the pumping stations suction pumps installed in the town to extract sewage.
He also ordered conducting a survey for the renovation of the old water supply line laid during the tenure of Benazir Bhutto. He said reverse-osmosis plants installed in Lyari should be made operational again.
The chief minister directed the additional chief secretary (development) to prepare a scheme for the engineering college. The secretary replied that Rs500 million had already been allocated for this purpose.
On the request of PPP South district president Haji Qasim the chief minister directed the local government minister to visit the Spencer Eye hospital and revamp it. The chief minister ordered that an area should be identified where 1,000 apartments could be constructed for the poor residents of Lyari.