A key Sindh cabinet member on Saturday spewed his four years' aggravation after failing to get somehow mended the province's basic institutions and felt unheard by his government to undermine rising corruption which left education department devastated.
The front-row seated provincial lawmaker in Sindh Assembly, Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar, who is the Provincial Minister for Revenue, took many aback during the session which Deputy Speaker, Shehla Raza chaired. Dahar voiced like an opposition member to criticise his party's government.
He lamented the poor state of education system in the province, saying corruption has deeply pervaded leaving no signs of relief for common people. He pointed out that about 58 government-run schools are closed in tehsil alone and teachers are not performing their duties.
Despite lodging complaints for the last four years to the Chief Minister Sindh, nothing came positive to correcting the institutions, he said, adding that he personally failed to get support from his government to spur the corruption-hit system. He also pointed out at rules violations, saying he witnessed the transfer and posting of schools watchmen, who is against the official norms, as such posts are filled only through local residents of the area.
He said even watchmen is being transferred and posted in his area's school from other parts of the province to fill the slot. Jam Mehtab observed the level of corruption has reached to its peak, saying even a watchman is appointed against the bribe while the transferred official's position is also filled with a new one.
He felt the education system reached its last stage of collapse and showed fears that what will be the future of new generation depending on government-run institutions. He said he had remained silent for the last four years, hoping the situation would improve but he was mistaken.
The revenue minister also pointed out at huge financial irregularities in healthcare sector of the government, saying a group was involved in million of rupees corruption in hepatitis vaccines. The group was later arrested but unfortunately got released. He said the vaccines were being given by the government to the poor patients who could not afford the expensive treatment.
A lady lawmaker of Pakistan Muslim League Functional (PML-F), Marvi Rashdi showed concerns over the corruption in agriculture department, saying the budgetary allocations for the farm sector would never yield results unless exact spending of funds are ensured.
She lauded budgetary subsidy for agriculture sector. About the police department's budget allocation which reached Rs 39.30 billion for the next fiscal year, she urged the government to scale down the funds as law and order continues to worsen. The increased allocation for police department should be conditional with law and order improvement, he suggested.
A huge surge given to education department's development funds in the budget, she observed, saying the situation now needs to improve. She hoped the closed schools will reopen for academic session and the department will render quality education to students and rate of literacy will mount. PML-F's provincial minister for Auqaf, Dr Rafiq Banbhan urged the government to solve the issue of water shortage for crops. He warned the government of crops drying up for lack of moisture.
He said in his constituency area - Faiz Ghanj is also facing water shortage and road infrastructure is nearly collapsed. He pointed out that the government has not undertaken any construction work to mend the roads with a view to facilitate the public in the last four years. Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) Muhammad Rafiq Engineer cried over the killing of Baloch labourers in different parts of the city, warning that the murdering of his community people will trigger anger in Sindh, as Balochistan is already undergoing hatred.
He gave a number of proposals to the government to engraft them in the next budget for development of schools, colleges, technical education to female in Lyari. He demanded of the government to make efforts to increase the minimum wages of white-colour private employees.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement's (MQM) Shoib Bukhari urged the government to shift the fresh development allocation to the already incomplete projects instead of undertaking new ones. He was of the view the existing projects completion is more important than the starting of new ones. PPP's provincial minister for Fisheries, Zahid Ali Bhurgari informed the house about the progress on lifting the EU ban Pakistan's seafood products. He said negotiations are underway and his department has sent documents to the union for approval, hoping the nation will hear about resumption of seafood export.
He said the export resumption to the EU will help the nation earn Rs 2 billion a year. He also highlighted the completed and ongoing projects of Sindh Fisheries Department in the province. MQM's sports Minister, Dr Muhammad Ali Shah, Khwaja Izharul Haq, Zubair Ahmed Khan, besides PPP's Shazia Marri, Abdul Haq Bhurt, Dr Manmohan Lal, Dr Diya Ram Israni, and Sadiq Memon also participated in the budget discussion. The house was adjourned till Monday morning to conclude the discussion and approve the Rs 578 billion of budget from assembly.
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