KARACHI:
The pre-budget debate in the Sindh Assembly concluded on Friday. Parliamentarians belonging to various parties as well as ministers, cabinet members and opposition leader gave their suggestions for the next financial year budget with special focus on problems the province is facing.
Leader of the Opposition, Ali Khursheedi said that the budget should be made in consultation with the members. He expressed concern over the water supply to Karachi and said that Sindh water almost ends when it reaches metropolitan city.
Government members should realise the water is a major issue of Karachi just like the rest of the Sindh. “People tend to forget Karachi when speaking against the canals project on the Indus River, are we not part of Sindh?” he said.
He pointed out that the government did not include new schemes in the budget last year, while funds were not spent on existing schemes either. The expenditure on the schemes of Kashmore, Tharparkar, Khairpur, Shaheed Benazirabad and Hyderabad remained zero as funds were not released.
Khursheedi said that the chief minister had assured that the schemes would be completed, but this did not happen. Government members are helpless, while officers affiliated with the MQM are being removed from their posts by the political mayor after the local body elections.
He said that transparency should be maintained in the budget for water supply schemes and the public should be told where the funds were spent.
Criticising the PPP, he said that only 400 buses were brought across Sindh against the need of 15,000.
PTI’s Muhammad Shabbir Qureshi said that his constituency is the highest income-generating constituency but still it has been deprived of all basic facilities. Sewage water enters the houses and mosques and the entire area gets blocked during the rains, he lamented.
Jamaat-e-Islami member Muhammad Farooq said that health sector should be exempted from the levy of tax. Instead, big leaders should be brought in the tax net. The FBR’s tyranny should be ended.
He also demanded a development package of Rs500 billion for Karachi and stressed on the early completion of all the incomplete projects of the city.
