Sindh govt ignored Karachi in budget, says PTI leader

Rejecting outright the Sindh government’s budget for the financial year 2021-22, leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday said the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had been punishing Karachi for not voting for it in the general elections.

Addressing a press conference at the Insaf House, PTI Karachi chief and MPA Khurrum Sher Zaman said Karachi had been ignored in the Sindh budget. “Karachi is running the whole country and such an attitude towards the metropolis is unbearable,” he stated.

The PTI leader claimed that the Sindh government had announced 19 projects for the city last year but not a single rupee was spent on 12 of them. Calling the chief minister incompetent, he said there was no mention in the budget speech on how the transport system would be improved.

He said shortage of drinking water was one of Karachi’s major problems and it was being hoped that residents of the metropolis would be saved from the tanker mafia in the budget. “But the chief minister did not speak against the tanker mafia nor announce anything to resolve the issue of water shortage.”

Zaman maintained that the PTI would complete the K-IV bulk water supply project for the city. He added that the federal government had given 52 fire tenders to Karachi but the Sindh government did not have staff for those fire tenders.

“There is a shortage of ambulances in the province. No strategy for ambulances has been formulated in the budget,” he said. Innocents were dying of rabies and no work had been started for vaccinating dogs, he remarked.

Zaman pointed out that millions of gallons of water went waste in the sea and no steps were being taken for water filtration. “The chief minister did not give any plan for the sanitation system,” he said.

“What can be expected from a chief minister who cannot clean the city's drains, eliminate dogs and provide fire brigade and ambulances?” he asked.

The PTI leader said no quota had been kept in the government jobs for the youth of Karachi. “The youth of Karachi is the educated youth. Many employees were recruited

on fake domiciles,” he lamented.

He said people had no hopes with those who were corrupt even in the department of Zakat.

Commenting on the demolitions of illegal structures, Zaman asked the chief justice to order the arrest of then Sindh Building Control Authority director general who allowed illegal constructions. “It is not the fault of the people but of those involved in the constructions,” Zaman said. He asserted that the business community of the city was not given any relief in the budget.