Sindh CM says he is answerable to people

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the PTI government had been asking about the utilisation of Rs18 billion it had reportedly given to the province of Sindh but “we are asking them to inform us about Rs9,000 billion they recovered under different taxes from the people of the province during the last three years.”

“We are not showing our performance through press conferences, making tall claims as those are nothing but a pack of lies but our performance is evident from the results of the elections we have been winning one after another with more and more majority and also by record victory all the by-elections.”

This he said on Sunday while addressing an open Katcheri he held in the Meerut Housing Society, Ahsanabad, in Scheme-33 area of Karachi.

The CM said that some of the federal ministers and representatives of the PTI government shamelessly asked about Rs18 billion they had given to the provincial government during the last three years, but he in response told them categorically that he was not answerable to them. “I am answerable to the people of the province, and they always repose their confidence in PPP by giving it mandate in one after anotherpoll to rule (the province),” he said.

Shah said that the PTI government collected Rs9,000 billion from Karachi during the last three years but what they had given in return to Sindh. It was nothing except rendering 25,000 people, including 1,650 of Pakistan Steel Mills jobless.

The CM said that he was happy if the federal government or any other agency was coming to Sindh to undertake development works.

Murad Ali Shah said that the `selected' government of PTI had no ability or strength to rule to serve the interest of the people of the country. They had destroyed the economy, promoted nepotism and corruption and torn apart the political ethics in the country.

According to the CM, the federal government has completely failed to secure a balanced and appropriate growth of the national economy and they had also missed their tax collection targets.

Talking about revenue collection by his government, the CM said that the provincial tax receipts during 2020-21 were Rs128.52 billion which showed 28 percent increase than the last year and this year the collection target has been set at Rs154.94 billion. “If our three-year performance in terms of revenue receipts are calculated they showed a 14 percent increase,” he said.

The current revenue expenditure of Sindh government for 2021-22, is estimated to grow by 12 percent to Rs1,089.372 billion in 2021-22, the CM said and added “The increase is mainly because salary and pension bill is rising by 13 percent and 10 percent respectively, grants to local bodies have been increasing by 5 percent to Rs82.00 billion, police department’s budget surged by 5 percent to Rs106.913 billion, health budget increased by 30 percent to Rs181.217 billion due to COVID-19 situation, education budget raised by 13.2 percent to Rs268.414 billion, and Rs30.9 billion have been allocated for pro-poor social protection and economic sustainability initiatives”.

The funds allocated for women development department in 2021-22 has been increased by 64.09 percent from Rs348.581 million to Rs571.975 million, the CM said and added Rs64 million have been kept for poor women and children in Sindh.

He added that Darul Aman in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana and Shaheed Benazirabad were handed over to the Women Development Department. The overall current revenue expenditure of education sector on expenditure side has been increased by 14.2 percent from Rs243.143 billion to Rs.277.556 billion in 2020-21.

Talking about key initiatives, Murad Ali Shah said that the government schools were being repaired with a cost of Rs5 billion, free textbooks distribution for Rs2.3 billion, non-formal education centre being operationalised for Rs600 million to reduce the rate of `out-of-reach’ school children, furniture being provided to schools for Rs6.623 billion. “We are also providing stipends to girl students for which Rs800 million have been allocated.

Murad Ali Shah said that in order to develop the mass transit system Rs7.640 billion have been allocated. “We are procuring 250 diesel hybrid electric buses under "Sindh Intra-District People’s Buse Services Project for Rs6.476 billion,” he said. He added that Red Line and Blue Line projects of Rs35 billion and Rs28 billion respectively were being launched within the next few months.

The chief minister said that under Karachi development package, 132 schemes have been completed with Rs43,068.777 million of them 89 schemes of Rs18764.329 million were executed by Local Government Department, 33 by Mega project unit for Rs21,983.189 million and 10 by KDA for Rs2,321.259 million.

The CM said that 113 schemes of Rs18,008.028 million were in progress, including 71 schemes by Local Government Department of Rs14,571 million, four by mega project team of Rs1,395.319 million and 38 by KDA for Rs2,041.709 million.

Shah said that Rs28,315.258 million schemes were under the process of approvals. The CM after his address invited public complaints and most of the complaints people raised on the occasion were against prolonged power outages, encroachment of land, water and sewerage issues and police highhandedness, illegal bus and truck terminals as the complainants also requested him for regularisation of villages.

The CM directed the departments concerned to note down the issues raised by the people and give him a report along with the possible resolution mechanism of these complaints. He directed the Karachi’s Commissioner to show zero tolerance against land grabbing.