Governor launches 6th shelter home in Karachi

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail on Monday inaugurated the sixth shelter home in Karachi to accommodate homeless people under the flagship Ehsaas poverty alleviation programme of Prime Minister Imran Khan. He inaugurated the latest Panah Gah (shelter home) in the Bakra Peri area of Lyari.

Speaking on the occasion, the governor said the network of shelter homes was being expanded in the country to provide free of charge lodging facilities and meals to daily wage-earners, labourers and other destitute people.

He remarked that the presence of these shelter homes was like a massive blessing for the needy people in the country. He said the Saylani Welfare Trust had partnered with the Ehsaas programme to provide free meals at the shelter home.

Ismail underlined the importance of ensuring the best hygienic conditions for the provision of quality food at the shelter homes, while the beneficiaries of the Panah Gah should also be treated in an exemplary manner.

He said the government had been working to upgrade the standard of shelter homes so as to treat shelter-less destitute people in the best possible manner. The governor mentioned that never in the history of the country had any government launched any scheme to make sure that no poor person went to bed with an empty stomach. He disclosed that the federal government had faced problems with its drive to establish similar shelter homes in other cities and districts of Sindh.

He claimed that the dream of PM Imran Khan to establish the state of Madina in Pakistan was being materialised. Responding to queries of media persons, the governor said the completion of the Karachi Circular Railway and the K-IV bulk water supply project for the city was included among the priorities of the federal government.

He said the Green Line Bus Rapid Transit Service was being launched in Karachi after one month. The governor informed the journalists that he was personally monitoring the import of buses for the Green Line project.

He said the transport sector was the responsibility of the provinces under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, but the Sindh government had failed to develop any viable public transportation system for Karachi to benefit its residents. He said they were ready to extend support if the Sindh government required any assistance in this regard.

He said the federal government would never leave Karachi alone, and it had lately carried out work to restore three major storm water drains of the city. He lamented the situation that projects meant for public welfare like building a new city on an island off Karachi’s coast had been unduly delayed due undue opposition and politicisation of the issue.

He said local government institutions, including the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, were responsible for improving road networks and overcoming the water shortage in the city. He said the city had been further pushed backwards owing to the move of the Sindh government to appoint a “selected” person as administrator of Karachi.

Later, the governor went to Musharraf Colony in the Mauripur area to distribute cheques to provide financial assistance to the destitute people resettled there after the floods of 2010.

The Pakistan Baitul Maal arranged the financial assistance, and 63 beneficiaries received cheques of Rs20,000 each. The governor said the beneficiaries who didn’t have any personal bank account could go to the post office to get these cheques cashed. He said facilitation would also be provided to the needy people of Musharraf Colony to help them to open their bank accounts.

He mentioned that PM Imran Khan had directed him to distribute these cheques. He said the government would construct model makeshift tent accommodations with all the necessary facilities to accommodate such internally displaced people due to natural calamities.