Resolution passed in PA against ‘denial’ of due water share to Sindh

The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed a resolution on Monday to condemn the “unwelcome situation of the province constantly being denied its due share of water as enshrined in the 1991 Water Accord”.

The resolution was moved by Sindh Irrigation Minister Sohail Anwar Khan Siyal. He said on the occasion that the province is being treated unfairly since 2003. He pointed out that Punjab has to bear with only nine per cent shortage of irrigation water, while this shortfall has increased to 44 per cent in the case of Sindh.

Siyal said that Sindh has not been demanding anything from the share of the other provinces, and that it only wants to be provided with water in accordance with its due share. He said that hundreds of thousands of acres of land in Sindh has become submerged due to the unwelcome phenomenon of seawater intrusion. He also said that the Indus River System Authority has failed to ensure just distribution of river water among the provinces because of its “inefficiency”.

Safe City

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla informed the House that work is expeditiously under way to implement the Safe City project in Karachi. Responding to a call-attention notice, he said that a similar project would soon be launched in Hyderabad and other districts of the province.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan lawmaker Mangla Sharma, who had submitted the notice, said that the entire Karachi has to face the menace of street crimes because the Safe City project is yet to be completed despite the passage of many years.

She said that every other citizen of the city has to endure the problem of street crimes. The opposition legislator wanted to know when the project would be completed.

Stray dogs

Responding to another call-attention notice, the parliamentary secretary for the local government department said that the provincial government is implementing a three-year programme to tackle the menace of stray dogs in Sindh.

Saleem Baloch said that stray dogs would be vaccinated while birth-control techniques would also be used to control their population. He said that teams would be formed at district levels to implement the programme.

Baloch said that work on the project would start next month. He said that every dog would wear a collar after being vaccinated. He added that the programme would be executed with a cost of Rs1 billion, which would be released to the union councils.

KWSB office fire

The parliamentary secretary also informed the PA that two people have been arrested and a criminal case registered against them for setting the finance department of the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB) on fire last month.

He said that the fire had been caused at the KWSB office deliberately, explaining that some people had went there with a bottle filled with petrol as part of a premeditated plan to carry out an act of sabotage.