CM censures Centre for deleting Sindh projects from PSDP

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Thursday said the federal government was not serious in running the constitutional bodies which was evident from the fact that the prime minister left the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting the previous day without getting the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) approved; however, the national media carried the news the next day that the PSDP had been approved.

The CM said this while addressing a news conference at the Committee Room of the Old Assembly Building. He was accompanied by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Sindh President Nisar Khuhro, Sindh Excise and Taxation Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla, Adviser on Information Murtaza Wahab and Adviser on Prisons Aijaz Jakhrani.

The CM informed media persons that the NEC was a 13-member constitutional body headed by the PM and constitutionally it had to meet twice a year.

Shah said the federal government presented a proposed five-year development plan in the NEC meeting and as it was presented, the PM loudly said that it stood approved. “At this, I told him that neither the plan has been shared with the provinces and nor comments or suggestions have been heard in the meeting so how it could be approved?”

He recalled that he had written a letter to the PM requesting him to direct the National Highway Authority (NHA) to expedite work on a Rs14 billion project of making the Jasmhoro-Sehwan road a dual carriageway, for which the provincial government had already released its Rs7 billion share to the NHA.

Shah claimed that after this, the PM directed then state minister on communications Murad Saeed to resolve the issue. “When Murad Saeed came to Karachi, he told me to meet him at Governor’s House,” Shah said, adding that “I told him to come to the CM House but he did not bother to visit the CM House and then later on he was promoted to the full-fledged minister.”

Talking about the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR), the CM said the railways authority had submitted an undertaking to the Supreme Court, which said they would start a local train service within 15 days; however, contrary to it the railways minister said that the local train would be operated by the Sindh government.

“The railway is a federal subject and in the past it was the railways ministry which used to operate local trains in the city,” the CM recalled. He questioned how the provincial government would run a local train service when it did not have bogies and engines.

Talking about the federal ministers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan [MQM-P], the CM satirically remarked that one of these sophisticated ministers was misguiding the PM on constitutional issues. He alluded to an earlier remark of the PM in which he had said that the ministers of the MQM-P were the most sophisticated (Nafees) ministers in his cabinet.

Not a single penny for the Karachi package has been released so far, the CM said. He remarked that the Nafees representatives of Karachi were deceiving their constituents.

The CM said the 12th five-year plan had set a target of five per cent average annual growth. “I don’t think they will be able to achieve the target, rather I think they will not be able to achieve even four per cent target.”

Shah said he had told the PM that he did not meet the chief ministers. “At least you are not meeting me as you even avoid meeting me in Karachi,” he said, addressing the PM. The CM maintained that the solution to Pakistan’s decreasing tax recoveries lied with the Sindh government. “I have advised the federal government to give collection of sales tax to the provinces. Yes, we are ready to start collection on behalf of the federal government and deposit it in the national exchequer but their [the federal government] policy is very simple – don’t work and do not let others work also.”

He lamented that the federal government had deleted 36 ongoing schemes of Sindh from its PSDP, which included the World Bank-assisted rehabilitation of Sukkur Barrage, the construction of a bridge on Indus River to connect Sukkur and Rohri, the construction of Southern Bypass Hyderabad, the lining of KB Feeder to provide water to Karachi and other projects.

Continuing with his tirade against the federal government, Shah said the Centre had refused to finance the Makhi Rarash Link Canal project for the supply of water to the Thar Coal project. “They [Centre] are saying that it was a province-specific or a localised project, which is a big joke. This is a national project from where electricity is being produced for the entire country,” he maintained, adding that the federal government had launched a number of localised projects in southern Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

The CM said Sindh’s overall share in the federal PSDP had earlier remained less than 11 per cent annually and now it was reduced to seven per cent. The CM claimed that during an earlier video conference, Federal Planning and Development Minister Khusro Bakhtiar had assured him the Sukkur Barrage rehabilitation, Coastal Highway, S-III and some other projects of Sindh would be included in the PSDP.

Shah said the PM during his visit to Karachi on March 30, 2019 had announced a Rs162 billion package for Karachi, a university in Hyderabad and an RO plant for Thar. “Where are these schemes as on the contrary they have deleted S-III from their PSDP,” he said.

He said in the next budget the federal government was going to impose heavy taxes which would further increase poverty ratio in the country. “In such circumstances, the provincial government has worked out a poverty reduction programme under the banners of Peoples’ promises,” he said.

Talking about the outbreak of AIDS In Larkana district, the CM said it was a serious issue and the provincial government was taking it seriously. “We are establishing an endowment fund for the purpose and have started investigations to unearth the reason behind the sudden outbreak.”

Shah urged the media not to disclose the names of the HIV positive patients. “This attitude will lead to social problems,” he said, adding that we should focus on their rehabilitation instead of making their lives miserable.