FBR’s revenue shortfall hampers Sindh development: Murad

KARACHI: The Sindh government’s development endeavours came to a standstill as various uplift projects could not be carried out due to a shortfall in the revenue collection by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in the last three years, said Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, while talking to media in Gharo and Thatta, on Wednesday morning.

The CM said he had visited Malir where various villages, such as Mohammadi Town, Yar Mohammad village, Khoie, Darsano Chhano and Hassan Panhwar, had been inundated due to illegal settlements that disturbed “the flow of rainwater in the Malir and Sukkhan rivers”.

Shah said 108 stranded citizens had been evacuated with the help of armed forces. He said 22 of them were from Khoi, 30 from Darsano Chhano and 56 from Hassan Panhwar.

“Still people in Mohammadi Town and Yar Mohammad Panhwar village are stranded,” he said, adding that he had directed the Karachi commissioner to rescue them with the help of the navy and the army and provide them with food and water.

The CM said the illegal settlements on the Malir and Sukkur rivers were so dense that hardly a 10 per cent width of the rivers was left for water to flow. “We are going to destroy the encroachments; otherwise urban floods will be inevitable.”

To a query, Shah said rainwater in Gharo had accumulated along the road of the area and inundated its portions. “I have observed that the road needs some culverts to give passage to the water. The construction work for them [culverts] will start soon.”

The CM said rainwater had been disposed of from Thatta city through natural gravity and suction machines but a permanent solution lied in the construction of a new storm water drain that “has been included in our development plan but due to the constraints of resources the work could not be undertaken”.