Opposition demands probe into Thar coal project delay: Sindh Assembly continues debate on budget

Opposition in Sindh Assembly on Monday called for an inquiry into the delay in Thar coal project, saying that the PPP government spent Rs 50 billion on the project during the last five years but there was no signs of power generation. With Speaker Aga Siraj Khan Durrani in the chair, the house resumed its debate on budget 2013-14. Members from both treasury and opposition demanded improvement in healthcare, education, law and order and agriculture sectors, besides power generation capacity.
PML-N's legislator, Masroor Khan Jatoi, criticised the PPP government for its failure to meet revenue collection target. He said the government also failed to cut non-development expenditures. He said that the government during the last five years spent Rs 50 billion on Thar coal power project but still there was no headway in sight to generate electricity through the highly-funded scheme.
He demanded formation of an inquiry committee to ascertain the reasons that caused delay in Thar coal project despite huge funding in the last five years. Jatoi said the government made huge spending to improve law and order but failed to restore peace in the province. Similarly, he said, the government also failed in improving the state of education and healthcare.
PTI's lawmaker, Syed Hafeezuddin, also demanded probe into the Thar coal project's delay. He termed the fiscal budget 'impractical' and based on 'whims and corruption'. "The budget lacks a policy to eliminate corruption and improve financial system of the province," he added, saying that the discretionary funds allocated in the fiscal plan for Chief Minister Sindh and Sindh Governor were too high.
He said that the government was not interested in broadening of tax base in rural parts of the province and its focus was on Karachi to tax the country's biggest city under numerous heads to boost its annual revenue collection. He said the government does not have the will to increase tax collection except from Karachi. Hafeezuddin proposed a 400 percent increase in agriculture tax. He said the fiscal budget was an instrument to serve the interest of landlords. He termed the budget 'imaginary plan' with no policy support. He criticised the government for its failure to stem unrest in the province especially Karachi. He called the ruling PPP "indifferent" to the poor land order in the province. PML-F's Mehtab Akbar Rashdi said the government could only spend Rs 97 billion out of the total Rs 181 billion allocated in ADP of the current fiscal year. The low spending on development projects, she said, shows the government's inability and unwillingness.
She was of the view that the public education sector has collapsed in the last five years, which needed a fresh begging. She said that the government needed to improve the academic curricula along with providing fresh training to the teaching staff in line with world education specifications. She also called for revisiting the budget allocation and expenditure on Rangers deployed in the city.
PPP's Kulsoom Chandio urged the government to initiate water and housing schemes for poor in Dadu district. She called the budget "excellent". MQM's Muhammad Azeem Farooqui said that despite huge budgetary allocation, the condition of healthcare and education sectors were deteriorating. He called for evolving a system to provide the poor with better education. He said that the citizens were unable to receive healthcare facilities despite huge annual expenditures on the government-run hospitals.
PPP's Sharmila Farooque unlike other legislators delivered a political speech and criticised opposition lawmakers and the PML-N federal government. She said that increase in sales tax to 17 percent was tantamount to depriving the poor of bread and butter.
Her speech created a rumpus in the house which took quite a time to end. She said that if the Federal Interior Minister 'General' Nisar Ali Khan could help the province to restore peace, the PPP government would welcome it but she condemned his 'ultimatum' to the provincial government to improve law and order. MQM's Syed Sardar Ahmed criticised Sharmila Farooque for her political speech during the budget debate.
He said the leader of the house should give replies to the questions and criticism by the opposition and suggested the treasury members to confine their speeches to budget discussion. PPP's Khursheed Junejo, Hasnain Mirza, Gazala Soomro, Muqeem Khan Khoso, Imdad Pitafi, Nusrat Sultana, MQM's Rehan Zafar, Iram Azeem Farooqui, Bilques Mukhtar, Arif Masih Bhatti, Wasim Uddin Qureshi, PML-N's Surat Thapo, Haji Shafi Jamoot and PML-F's Nusrat Sehar Abbasi and other lawmakers took part in the debate.