PPP to lose provincial, local govts in Sindh: Asad Umar

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Saturday said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) will soon lose its provincial and local governments in Sindh.

He said this while addressing a ceremony held to mark the conclusion of the work to restore the Cooperative Market in Saddar that was burnt in a fire incident last year.

The planning minister said the Sindh government neither provided relief to the people nor did anything for the province, adding the population census was a longstanding issue of Karachi, which was used to serve the political purposes but nobody took any step to resolve it.

He said Karachi would be empowered like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adding the digital means would be used to conduct the next census in the country on the modern lines.

He said that in the month of May this year, the pilot project of the new census drive would be conducted as later on the final announcement would be made to conduct the census.

He said that earlier Karachi had been desperate to get a modern public transportation system as the transport project had now commenced in the city. He said the Sindh chief minister had told him that he (Asad Umar) wouldn’t be able to execute the (transport) project.

The minister said the work on the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project was also going to be implemented during the regime of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as the KCR was another modern mass transit system for the city. The orders of the Supreme Court were being implemented to build the KCR project, he added.

Asad Umar said that he had opposed the regime of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf but one should acknowledge that the development projects had been carried out in the city during Musharraf’s regime.

He said that Karachiites had been massively suffering due to acute water shortage as the people of the city had been left with no option but to avail the water tanker service.

He said the K-IV bulk water supply project was being executed under the Karachi Transformation Plan that would provide 260 million gallons of water on a daily basis to the residents of the city.

Speaking on the occasion, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail greeted the traders associated with the Cooperative Market on the revival of their workplace.

He acknowledged that the PTI’s legislators Khurrum Sher Zaman, and Aftab Siddiqui had done hard work to restore the market. The PTI did not abandon the traders of Karachi when they faced tough times, he added.

The governor told the affected traders of the market that they could avail loan from the Kamyab Jawan scheme of the incumbent government for the revival of their businesses. He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had a relationship with the city of Karachi based on love and affection. He said Karachi got new fire engines during the PTI’s regime, while the present government also completed the Green Line bus project for the city.

“We do work for Karachi and we should be guided, if there is any shortcoming in this regard,” he said.

Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Shaikh said that the revenue collected from the businessmen of Karachi was being used to run affairs of the rest of the country.

He lamented that fire tenders had been without water when the fire incident happened at the Cooperative Market.

He commended the services of Asad Umar who had acted upon the vision of PM Imran Khan to adopt the policy of smart lockdowns to tackle the coronavirus emergency.