HYDERABAD: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, addressing a divisional-level party workers meeting, on Sunday, announced that every village of Hyderabad division would be given water supply, drainage and storm water drain schemes to save lands against salinity.

He ordered reconstruction of Thatta’s revenue record burnt after the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

He directed the Sindh local government minister and Hyderabad mayor to improve performance of the Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA) and Wasa, failing which he would take action in the matter. He asked the works & services department to complete the ongoing work of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto flyover within a few months as it had been delayed due to litigations.

District PPP president Saghir Ahmed proposed that consultative meetings should be held regularly to interact with workers at grassroots level. He emphasised the need to strengthen coordination with party ranks at every level.

Inaugurates C-ARTS facility in Hyderabad

Hyderabad PPP general secretary Ali Mohammad Sahito urged the CM to enhance maintenance and repair budgets of Hyderabad.

He also wanted the government to enhance octroi zila tax (OZT) share of towns. He that Hyderabad had nine towns with accumulated OZT share of Rs13.6m of which Rs10m was utilised in salaries and the rest was spent on payments of utilities, thus the towns could not carry out development works.

Sindh Minister Nasir Shah briefed the participants about the procedure for filing recommendations for the development schemes. Nisar Khuhro also spoke.

C-ARTS facility inaugurated

Inaugurating the Centre for Autism Rehabilitation and Training Sindh (C-ARTS), CM Shah said that it had embarked on an exceptional journey to create job opportunities

for those affected by autism. Such institutions were being supported by government despite limited fiscal space, he added.

Started in 2018, the CM noted, C-ARTS was now having six centres in Sindh to offer its services to 600 people affected by autism.

He said that Hyderabad’s C-ARTS was now established in its new building at Hilal-i-Ahmer, Latifabad, for children and adults to offer its services to 250 to 300 individuals with autism.

The CM was accompanied by Sindh PPP president Nisar Khuhro, general secretary Waqar Mehdi, and Sindh ministers Sharjeel Memon, Jam Khan Shoro, Nasir Shah and others.

The CM said he took pride that the journey of the C-ARTS was continuing, adding that the organisation was born out of necessity to provide support and services to individuals with autism.

He said the demand for its services was increasing amidst limited resources. “The C-ARTS is offering a comprehensive range of services under one roof, a sanctuary for individuals with autism and their families,” he said.

He said it was imparting training to the people with autism for various skills besides education so that they could become self-employed. He said that he was glad to note achievements of that organisation because its success despite limited resources was an achievement and it was grooming children and adults as best as possible.

He said the C-ARTS was in fact a shelter for people with autism and added that such children always had greater potential which needed to be exploited. He maintained that availability of parks and housing was indeed a commendable job.

He said the C-ARTS was undoubtedly a ray of hope for the people in need. He said he would like to refer Gambat programme where services were provided for individuals ranging from childhood to adolescence age group. He said it was creating opportunities for employment.

Expressing surprise over the things produced by autistic people there, he said that they were just excellent.

He said their journey was a testimony of compassion, resilience and collective effort of C-ARTS team and reaffirmed his commitment to create more inclusive and compassionate society where all individuals, regardless of their abilities, could thrive and fulfil their true potential.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2024