Karachi:
The debate before the budget in the Sindh Assembly ended on Friday. The parliamentarians belonging to various parties as well as to ministers, to the members of the cabinet and to the head of the opposition gave their suggestions for the next budget of the exercise by focusing particularly on the problems with which the province is confronted.
Opposition chief Ali Khursheedi said the budget should be made in consultation with the members. He expressed his concern in the face of Karachi water supply and said that the Sindh water ends almost when she reaches the metropolitan city.
Government members should realize that water is a major Karachi problem, just like the rest of the Sindh. “People tend to forget Karachi by speaking against the Canals on the Industry River project, are we not part of the Sindh?” He said.
He stressed that the government did not include new budget programs last year, while funds were not spent either on existing diets. Expenditure on the plans of Kashmore, Tharparkar, Khairpur, Shaheed Benazirabad and Hyderabad remained void because the funds were not released.
Khursheedi said the chief minister assured that the programs would be completed, but that did not happen. Members of the government are helpless, while the officers affiliated to the MQM are withdrawn from their posts by the political mayor after the local elections.
He said transparency should be maintained in the water supply plans budget and that the public should be informed where funds have been spent.
Criticizing the PPP, he said that only 400 buses had been brought through the Sindh against the need for 15,000.
Muhammad Shabbir Qureshi de PTI said that his constituency is the higher district generating income, but it has always been deprived of all basic facilities. Wastewater enters the houses and mosques and the whole area is blocked during the rains, he deplored.
The member of Jamaat-E-Islami, Muhammad Farooq, said that the health sector should be exempt from tax levy. Instead, major leaders should be introduced into the tax net. FBR tyranny should be over.
He also demanded a development set of 500 billion rupees for Karachi and underlined the end of the completion of all the incomplete projects in the city.
