KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Monday began its debate on the budget presented by the provincial government for the next nine months of the current fiscal year amid hurling of accusations by lawmakers from both sides of the aisle against each others’ leadership.

The session, chaired by Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, began 90 minutes later than scheduled. Monday was the first of the five days allocated by the chair for general discussion on the budget statement for remaining period of the financial year 2018-19 — from Oct 1 to June 30, 2019.

The chair allowed 18 members — 10 from opposition benches and eight from treasury — to speak.

Both sides offered at least one firebrand member whose speeches had direct attacks on the leadership of rival parties.

GDA lawmaker calls Zardari ‘don’

It started with Grand Democratic Alliance’s Arif Jatoi who launched a tirade against ruling Pakistan Peoples Party’s co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

At the outset, he called the PPP leader a ‘don’. This sparked a noisy protest from the treasury members as some of them started criticising leaders of the rival parties, which displeased other opposition groups as well.

While Speaker Durrani kept asking all not to attack anyone’s leadership, no one paid any heed to his advice.

Eighteen lawmakers participate in general discussion on budget 2018-19

When opposition lawmakers protest over some remarks by PPP MPAs, the speaker replied: “When you attack one’s leadership, it will certainly bring up retaliation.”

In his speech, Mr Jatoi said the PPP’s manifesto was getting thicker with each five-year term it had enjoyed ruling the province. However, he added, the promises it had made in its 2008 and 2013 manifestos had not been fulfilled.

He said: “[The] PPP did not control the increasing population in Sindh as it had pledged; instead every minister has two or three wives.”

He said there was no implementation on the minimum support price announced by the government for sugar cane growers because sugar mills “belonged to Mr Zardari”.

He claimed that the PPP had won the elections by using money, which, he added, would no longer benefit the ruling party.

PTI criticised for gifting wheat to Afghanistan

PPP’s Shamim Mumtaz replied in a similar harsh tone by saying the party would not have been presenting its 11th budget had it not performed well and served the people of Sindh.

She said service delivery always invited criticism, but that did not hinder her party from serving the people unlike the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s previous government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the ruling party did not spend on projects for people’s welfare fearing criticism from the opposing quarters.

She criticised the PTI government for gifting wheat to Afghanistan, increasing prices of fuel and fertiliser and announcing giving citizenship to Afghans, Bengalis and other “illegal immigrants”.

She said the prime minister should award citizenship to refugees and illegal aliens by issuing them with domiciles of Punjab and not Sindh.

PTI’s Bilal Ghaffar claimed all social indicators in Sindh were negative.

PPP’s Sohrab Sarki challenged his claim and said that the PPP won elections because of its performance.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s Wasim Ahmed said that the PPP had presented budgets worth trillions of rupees during its 11 years in power in the province, but no budget carried people’s preferences.

PTI’s Imran Shah said there were no ventilators in government-run hospitals in Thar, Umerkot and Sujawal districts.

He said instead of building new hospitals, the government should focus on improving the service-delivery system in the existing ones.

Rabia Majid of the MQM-P said the government could help poor parents a great deal by improving public schools.

She said Sindh and the country as a whole could fare better if the class system in education was scrapped.

Ghazala Siyal of the PPP said the government was focusing on improving the social sector.

70pc of RO plants in Thar dysfunctional

GDA’s Razzaq Rahimoon said the government should launch an inquiry into the reverse osmosis plants it installed in Thar.

He said 70 per cent of the plants were not functioning.

Instead of installing 750 RO plants, the PPP government had installed just 425 plants, he added.

PTI’s Rabia Azfar said the government’s increase in enrolment in schools should be better than what it had promised recently.

MQM’s Rashid Khilji called the budget a jugglery of figures and “old honey in new bottle”.

He said ventilators for children were not available in public sector hospitals in Hyderabad.

PPP’s Anthony Naveed said the areas inhabited by the people belonging to minority faiths, Christians in particular, had deliberately been neglected by the local councils in the cities of Sindh.

He said there were areas in Karachi where water supply to the Christian neighbourhoods was being denied. Besides, solid waste of the cities like Karachi and Hyderabad was normally being thrown in the surroundings of such localities, he added.

MQM’s Shahana Asha’ar said equal rights should be accorded to Karachi.

PTI’s Shabbir Qureshi said Karachi West fetched most revenues for the country and Sindh yet its people were being denied adequate water supply.

‘PPP never opposed Diamer-Bhasha dam’

Three members of the PPP loudly criticised the emergence of the controversial issue of Kalabagh dam.

It started when Kulsoom Chandio said the ‘dead horse’ of the Kalabagh dam was again being made an issue despite the fact that it had been rejected by the assemblies of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

“I am not afraid of treason charges,” she said. “I am ready to face such charges, but Kalabagh dam and settling illegal immigrants is not acceptable at any cost,” she said.

Shahid Thaheem echoed Ms Chandio’s sentiments as he said the people of Sindh would fight and not allow the Kalabagh dam to be built at the cost of Sindh’s very survival.

Shamim Mumtaz said the PPP had never opposed the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha dam, but would never allow the construction of Kalabagh dam.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2018