PTI plans to present shadow budget in Sindh Assembly

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders have once again criticised Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders, especially Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and MPA Faryal Talpur, saying that Sindh’s ruling party has become the worst enemy of the people of the province.

The PTI held a news conference at the party’s secretariat on Sunday, days after their MNAs elected from Karachi protested in the National Assembly in front of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari over the issue of water shortage in the city.

The PTI’s Firdous Shamim Naqvi, who is the opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly, told the media that the party will present a shadow budget in the provincial assembly on June 6. He claimed that Sindh had gone back a century in the past 11 years during the PPP’s tenure.

“The ‘Papa Phuppo Pappu’ [father, aunt and young boy] party is the worst enemy of Sindh that has robbed the resources of the province,” said Naqvi, who was flanked by PTI Karachi President Khurrum Sher Zaman and MPA Bilal Ghaffar.

He censured CM Shah as well. “What kind of a chief minister are you? You have been selected to represent the province and not for staging walkouts!” He accused the chief executive of spreading baseless news of bringing the presidential system and rolling back the 18th amendment. He said the CM kept complaining that Prime Minister Imran Khan did not shake hands with him.

Naqvi said Karachi’s residents voted and elected Khan for the post of PM, and he will bring water to the city. “Karachi cannot live without water, and the people are frustrated over its acute shortage.”

He said the PPP was working on projects worth Rs8 billion but claiming them to be worth Rs36 billion. He added that MPA Ghaffar will present a shadow budget in the PA this Thursday. He urged the federal government to finalise the Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) alongside the National Finance Commission (NFC). “Just like the NFC is necessary for the Sindh government, the PFC is essential for Karachi.”

He said the country cannot move forward until Karachi is developed. “The whole country suffered because Karachi’s development was halted by the worsening security situation.”

Discussing the issue of handing back the control of Karachi’s three major hospitals to the federal government, he said that it happened on the directives of the apex court. “The PPP is crying for nothing.”

He said the PTI cannot leave Sindh’s residents on the mercy of the PPP. “They are suffering from HIV and our federal government is taking measures for its treatment.”

Mentioning PM Khan’s announcement during a March 30 visit to Karachi regarding the allocation of Rs162 billion for the city’s development, Naqvi said that it will bring a major change in the city.

Last week, based on the report of the auditor general for the financial year 2017-18, the PTI had issued a white paper on the performance of the provincial government.

MPA Zaman told a news conference at the PA that he had sought a meeting with the National Accountability Bureau’s director general for Sindh to submit evidence of corruption. He also appealed to the PA speaker to allot time so that the House could thoroughly discuss the report of the AG.

“Each one of the [opposition] MPA has made ample preparation, as they will inform the House in what manner the public money was looted,” said Zaman while appealing to the speaker that the PA should discuss the AG’s recent report.

He said that the 18th constitutional amendment should be reviewed, as the case of governance in Sindh had amply shown that the authority derived from the provincial autonomy was brazenly used to plunder the public money.

He also said that the outbreak of the epidemic of HIV/AIDS near the native town of the ruling Bhutto clan had amply shown the extent of bad governance and corrupt practices in the province by the ruling PPP.

He added that the recent report of the AG had sufficiently proven that corrupt practices had occurred in the affairs of the provincial government’s health and education departments. Zaman said the AG’s report had shown that financial irregularities to the tune of Rs13.5 billion did occur in the finance department headed by CM Shah himself.

He said that financial irregularities to the tune of Rs29.5 billion were detected in the case of the works & services department, adding that financial wrongdoings of Rs77.5 billion were detected in the case of the food department, as the department made payments without fulfilling the financial formalities.

The lawmaker said that financial irregularities of Rs27.5 billion were reported in the case of the excise & taxation department, adding that Mukesh Kumar Chawla who had been incharge minister of the department for the past several years had to be publicly held accountable for this embezzlement.

He said the AG’s report had detected wrongdoings of Rs181 billion in the case of the CM’s secretariat, as this component alone had shown the gravity of the situation and had also thoroughly proven that the menace of corruption had become widespread in the affairs of the provincial government.