KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has stressed for assigning priorities to health and agriculture sectors in the next Sindh budget 2020-21 as fighting coronavirus and locust attacks shall be the top-most agenda to save human lives and avert famine and food insecurity.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari was given a briefing through a video link by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, his coordinator for social protection Haris Gazdar, planning and development chairman Waseem Ahmed and finance secretary Syed Hassan Naqvi.

The PPP chairman said that Sindh had to prepare a poor-friendly budget within the available resources to cater to the needs of the people in an era of multiple crises.

The CM and his team apprised Mr Bhutto-Zardari of the additional allocations for Covid-19 response schemes, social protection and poverty reduction programmes so that repercussions of Covid-19 and the locust attacks could be mitigated.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2020