KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Thursday said that he had taken up the issues of three hospitals of Karachi — JPMC, NICVD and NICH — at the Council of Common Interests (CCI) meeting and the prime minister had directed his special assistant on health to resolve the matter because “the provincial government is running them properly”.

He was speaking to journalists after inaugurating three Landhi industrial area roads.

Responding to a question, the chief minister said that he had raised two important issues at the CCI meeting held in Islamabad under Prime Minister Imran Khan on April 7. The first and foremost issue was of three hospitals of Karachi: JPMC, NICVD and NICH.

“I told the prime minister that the provincial government is running them properly, therefore it should be allowed to have their control,” he said and added that the prime minister acknowledged it and said that the hospitals had been taken over on the Supreme Court’s orders.

“I told the prime minister that the Supreme Court in its judgement had given a way out for running the hospitals by the provincial government,” the chief minister said and added that off and on different notifications were being issued which badly affect the performance of the hospitals.

He said that the prime minister keeping in view the smooth functioning of the hospitals, passed his directive to his Special Assistant Dr Faisal Sultan to resolve the matter.

Reservations on census results expressed in CCI meeting

Murad Ali Shah said that he also took up the issue of census at the CCI. “I told the prime minister that all four provinces have reservations on the census results, and it was agreed that five per cent of census blocks would be verified but that has not happened yet,” he said and added that the federal government should announce conducting the census afresh to resolve the issues.

Fair distribution of water

Mr Shah said that another issue he had raised in the CCI meeting was of fair distribution of water for which a committee was constituted under the attorney general of Pakistan.

“The report has been submitted last year, but still it has not been tabled in the CCI,” he said and added he requested the prime minister to direct the authorities concerned to present the report in the meeting so that a decision could be taken accordingly.

The CM said that without approval of the census, local bodies elections could not be held, therefore, the federal government would have to take some decisions accordingly.

Replying to a question about Jahangir Tareen’s possible entry into the PPP, he said it would be premature to comment on the matter. “I have seen the statement of Jahangir Tareen in the media that he wants respect in his party [PTI] which seems to be a futile exercise,” he added.

Replying to a question, Murad Ali Shah said that the commissioner of Karachi was a well-reputed senior officer of grade BS-21. “I won’t comment on the remarks the Supreme Court has given against the commissioner of Karachi,” he said and added that the prime minister was directing officers to expedite the approvals of new buildings so that the construction industry could flourish.

“The commissioner Karachi is a federal government DMG/PAS officer of Grade BS-21 and he might have followed the instructions of the prime minister,” he added.

Mr Shah said that his government was facing a shortage of grade BS-21 officers. Against the quota of 16 officers of BS-21, only five officers were working, he added.

Earlier, the chief minister along with provincial ministers and office bearers of the Landhi Association of Trade and Industry unveiled a plaque to inaugurate three roads constructed in the Landhi industrial area.

These three roads include 8000 Road up to Landhi industrial area via Future Mor, road from Dawood Chowrangi to Younis Textile, Landhi and road from General Tyre, Mehran Highway to Landhi industrial area at a cost of Rs530.579 million.

The CM said that he had given Rs2.5 billion to six industrial zones of Karachi as a grant to construct roads of their respective areas. “They have taken a long time but constructed the roads properly,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2021