KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the present delimitations in Karachi and in other districts of the province are defective and unrealistic and were carved out purely on political basis to keep PPP out of power. Therefore, in principle the next elections should be held on the basis of fresh delimitations but not at the cost of postponement of general elections.

The CM, who was addressing a programme of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Thursday, said that present constituencies were carved out during the rule of Gen Pervez Musharraf purely on political grounds to benefit his favourites. Not only in Karachi but all over Sindh the plot was to defeat PPP in the elections, he added.

Recalling his personal experience about his home constituency in taluka Sehwan where his constituency of provincial assembly was carved out in such a way that it stretched over three talukas, the CM said: “I filed an appeal and contested in the courts and finally my constituency came in the jurisdiction of two talukas, instead of one taluka.” Even then the PPP defeated the Musharraf-sponsored party.

Therefore, he said, the next general election should be held on the basis of fresh delimitations for which exercise may be started as soon as possible. “We want fresh delimitations but not at the cost of postponement of elections,” the CM clarified.

With regards to the census he said that the census staff must give a copy of the form in which they were recording the data of a family. However, the statistics department had termed it a secret document. “It is quite absurd that the data in which details of a family were recorded was being kept secret.”

Karachi development

Talking about the development of Karachi the CM said that during the last financial year, 2016-17, he had allocated Rs10 billion for the development of infrastructure but by the end of the financial year “we could utilise only Rs7.5bn and the result of this utilisation is visible in the shape of various roads, flyovers and underpasses.”

He added that he also gave Rs8bn to city mayor for development but regretted to say that “wherever they have utilised the funds is not visible.” He pointed out that he was not levelling allegations of misappropriation but he was saying that the utilisation of the money by KMC was not visible.

Referring to the recent rains which hit Karachi, the CM said that at the time he was in Saudi Arabia to perform Haj. The mayor and other local bodies, DMCs, demonstrated an irresponsible attitude, he added. “I rushed my ministers to support the people and they did. A drama was created by calling the army, declaring emergency and making unnecessary hue and cry.” He explained that rainwater was disposed off when it stopped raining. Thado Dam had not developed a breach but it was due to illegal constructions on the natural waterways that rainwater penetrated into Saadi Town. “Now look at Airports Security Force — they are constructing their scheme on a nullah.”

Aisha Bawany College

Talking about Aisha Bawany College, the chief minister said that it was leased out to the trust for educational purposes in 1972. Later, the college was nationalised. The case was in court for a long time. “We kept running from one court to another but the case could not” move, he lamented. “Finally the government has won the case today.”

He was sorry to note that the courts were not listening to the provincial government and said it was not the question of the government but it was the matter of thousands of students who were receiving education in the college in two shifts. On wining the case, the chief minister congratulated the parents, students and civil society but also warned the government department not to show lukewarm attitude to such government cases, otherwise strict action would be taken.

Earlier, Local Government Minister Jam Khan Shoro said that the “champion” former city nazim Mustafa Kamal had overstaffed KMC from 4,000 to 12,000 employees and the water board from 4,000 to 15,000 employees. As a result, he said, both organisations lost their financial health and now do not have the financial capacity to even to pay their power bills, he lamented.

He said that mostly MQM remained in charge of the KMC but they never bothered to cleanse any nullahs. “We have cleansed all major nullahs and removed encroachment from there,” he added.

He accused the industrialists of supporting the water mafia who had taken clandestine connection from the water line of KWSB at Lyari River. “We took action against them but industrialists had supported them,” he pointed out, and urged them to install a desalination plant for their industrial estates.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2017