Budget debate continues in Sindh PA: Opposition slams govt over huge school dropout rate

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Thursday continued its debate on fiscal budget 2022-23, as opposition slammed the provincial government for gigantic dropouts from the state-run schools, despite lofty financial allocations.

Syed Firdous Shamim Naqvi, of the main opposition party -PTI, censured Chief Minister Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah for as high as 7 million students are out of schools in the province.

Citing an undisclosed report, he said: “there are 7 million students out of schools in Sindh. This job is assigned to the NGOs.”

He lauded former premier, Imran Khan for stating 10 big dams in the country during the past government. He also felicitated Murad Ali Shah for initiating the rescue system 1122 in Sindh.

PPP’s lady legislator, Sadia Javed appreciated her party’s government for developing the Malir Expressway and a number of other uplift projects in Sindh. She claimed that the Sindh government is serving people of province.

Basit Ahmad Siddiqui of the MQM called the fiscal budget a “status que”, saying that the people’s problems are intact and unattended. He questioned whether the public will receive potable water through fixed pipelines, and where the tankers are getting the key utility from.

PTI’s Ahmad Saeed Afridi questioned the Sindh’s education system viability. He said that about Rs1500 billion is earmarked for the provincial academia but education standards are still poor.

“Looking at the mammoth budget for the education system, people from worldwide should be coming to Sindh for education,” he said that Sindh is way behind in the quality education from other three provinces.

He also pointed out that an hospital in the city’s outskirt area of Qasba Colony, Orangi Town has become a den of drugs sellers. He questioned that why had male police personnel of the three stations raided his home on May 24, 2022. What law permits male police to raid my home, he added.

“In the present circumstances, there could not be a relief beyond that in the fiscal budget,” PPP’s Abdul Razak Raja appreciated his government. He asked the PPP government to rebuild a dam that floods had washed away.

He said that the entire country is in a deep uncertainty, as rich and poor sections of the society are faced with stress of problems. “No one talks about the poor,” he added

Muhammad Javed Hanif Khan of the MQM asked the Sindh government to find an island to relocate people of Karachi, if it is not interested in giving rights to them. He said that his party’s political mandate is stolen and turned the MQM into a minority electoral representation.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022