Sindh govt lacks data on disabled people in province, PA informed

The Provincial Assembly of Sindh was informed on Monday that so far no data was available with the provincial government on the disabled people in the province, as the process to collect data for the purpose would complete by the end of June.

This was disclosed by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla while responding to the queries of lawmakers during the question hour of the PA relating to the Government of Sindh’s Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.

An opposition legislator of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) criticised the parliamentary affairs minister for his inability to inform the House about the number of disabled people in the province. On one occasion, the minister had to apologise for saying that the disabled people were “helpless”.

Opposition lawmaker of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Shahana Ashar suggested that the responsibility should be delegated at the level of union council for the welfare of the disabled people of the province.

The parliamentary affairs minister welcomed the suggestion of the opposition lawmaker, saying that it was obligatory on everyone in society to work for the welfare of the disabled people. Legislator of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party Dr Sohrab Sarki said that there was a large number of disabled people in his native area of Thul in Jacobabad, adding that it was imperative to establish a special centre for the rehabilitation of the disabled people in the area.

Domestic violence

Women Development Minister Shehla Raza admitted in the House that there had been an increase in incidents of domestic violence against women in the province. She was responding to a calling-attention notice on the issue put forward by opposition lawmaker of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Adeeba Hassan.

The women development minister said the number of staffers of her department was insufficient to deal with the issue, but despite the constraint, they had been doing their best to tackle the problem. She said her department worked on the cases that were reported to the police. She clarified that it was the responsibility of the courts to punish the guilty in such cases.

She also said the women development department provided legal and medical emergency assistance to female victims of domestic violence. She referred to the constraint of her department that its staff members could not enter the home of anyone to inquire about domestic violence.

RO plants

Responding to a calling-attention notice of opposition legislator of the GDA Abdul Razzaque Rahimoon, Public Health Engineering Minister Shabbir Bijarani said tenders had been issued to repair the faulty reverse-osmosis water filtration plants in Tharparkar.

The minister said he would present before the House the report on the entire Thar area with regard to the availability of the RO plants. The opposition lawmaker said that up to 60 per cent of Thar’s RO plants were faulty, and the unavailability of potable water would force the people of the desert area to migrate in summer. He said Tharis had also been facing acute wheat shortage, and their food requirements could not be met.

Succession certificates

The PA again passed the bill to adopt the new method of issuing succession certificates in the province through the National Database & Registration Authority (Nadra).

The bill was passed again after Governor Imran Ismail’s suggestion that biometric verification of legal heirs be made part of the new method of issuing succession certificates. The legal heirs applying for succession certificates who live abroad will be able to go to the nearest diplomatic mission of Pakistan for their biometric verification.