PHOTO: EXPRESS

KARACHI: The members of opposition in Sindh Assembly on Monday criticised the government and said "Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is deviating from its manifesto by not providing health, education and other facilities at gross roots level".



During the post budget discussion in the session, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) MPA Arif Mustafa Jatoi, while waving the budget documents and quoting from the PPP manifesto, said "Every household will be provided the job on merit, computer education will be compulsory in each government school in Sindh and population growth is ticking time bomb, which will be controlled without any delay." He alleged that these were the pledges that PPP made but miserly failed to fulfil. "They are talking to control the population, but I want to disclose here that every minister sitting in this house has two wives with dozens of children. How can they control the population and implement the PPP manifesto," he asked adding that the issue of meritocracy can be taken from the fact that drivers and junior clerks have gotten promotions to grade 16 and 17 respectively.



Jatoi further pointed out "They promised in their manifesto that they will put an end to child labour. It means no child under the age of 14 will work. Nothing has been done and all things are only on papers". He added that the sugarcane growers have been protesting in Sindh over rates fixed by the government, but all in vain. "The government could not revise the rate without the consent of PPP's co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari who everyone knows owns almost all mills," Jatoi said. These words irked the PPP members who stood up at their seats and protested against Jatoi.



PPP MPA Mumtaz Jakhrani along with PPP women MPAs, most of whom are there on reserve seats, continued the protest. Reacting to them, some opposition MPAs belonging to GDA and PTI also stood up at their feet suggesting the treasury bench to listen to the opposition speech without creating pandemonium in the house. Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani became emotional and while addressing Jatoi said, "Please don't criticise leadership of any party, otherwise, you will face the same music." Responding to him Jatoi said, "Our leadership is clean." Durrani issued a warning to him and said, "I again tell you to not target any political leadership and please discus the budget."



Arif Jatoi, who has won the election from Naushero Feroz, winding up the budget said, "I want to tell this house that they have won the election not because of their party manifesto and ten years government performance, but because of rigging, corruption and indulging in malpractice."



PTI MPA Dr Imran Ali Shah, who recently was punished by the court for beating up a motorist, drew the house attention towards the pathetic condition of public hospitals in Tharparkar district and said, "We have recently visited different areas of Thar, which were giving a look of Africa with no sign of human development."



He further added that the PPP government was in power for last ten years, but it failed to make of the Umerkot Civil Hospital Operational. Sharing his visit he said, "We were shocked to see the operation theatre of the hospital where the anaesthesia machine was lying non-functional for the last three years. Stray dogs were roaming in the hospital and there were no ventilators."



He added that a four-year-old child was seriously ill in Umerkot and doctors suggested that he be put on ventilator but all in vain. He suggested that the hospitals and basic health centres in Thar should be upgraded rather than constructing more buildings.



Dr Sohrab Sarki of PPP, while defending his government and party, said that they have broken all the records of development in the last ten years. Referring to the state of art National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) hospitals in different districts of Sindh, he said, "We have setup a network of NICVD hospitals and its wards in various districts of Sindh where patients are getting free treatments." He said that PPP has spent billions of rupees on the roads and infrastructure in the province. "Sindh is the only province which has built women cadet colleges and setup a law university in the province," he said adding that hundreds of patients from Sindh and Punjab are getting benefit from Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) Sukkur that render their services free of charge.



MQM MPA Mohammad Wasim focused on the water issue in Karachi and said, "Government is building Sindh House in Islamabad and constructing new Sindh Secretariat. I request them to please resolve the drinking water issue and control the deaths of children in Thar."



Razzaque Rahimon of GDA, who won the election from Tharparkar, drew the house attention towards cutting of trees in Thar and said, "In my constituency, the villages are located 200 kilometres from Mithi and there is no basic health centre to provide relief to people." He said that PPP government has spent Rs7 billions on 750 RO Plants, majority of which are lying idle.



Resolution on dams



Joint opposition parties submitted a resolution in favour of Bhasha Dam and against Kalabagh Dam in Sindh Assembly. Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Grad Democratic Alliance (GDA) MPAs were among others who signed and submitted the resolution in the assembly secretariat.



"Three assemblies have rejected Kalabagh Dam, which has now become controversial issue. There is no need for such a dam that has been rejected by majority of people living in Pakistan," the resolution said adding that Bhasha Dam, however, must be built for the sake of the country. PTI's Firdous Shamim Naqvi and Haleem Adil Shaikh, GDA's Hasnain Mirza and Nand Kumar Goklani, and MQM's Khwaja Izharul Hasan were amongst the movers of this resolution.



Commenting on the opposition's resolution, PPP leader Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that the opposition's resolution against construction of Kalabagh Dam in Sindh Assembly is nothing but a stunt to get cheap publicity. "Kalabagh Dam is a dead issue as well as a dead horse. Sindh Assembly has already passed a resolution against it. Opposition should bring other public interest issues in the assembly," he said.



Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2018.