PML-F terms RO plant project 'mother of all scandals': Sindh Assembly continues with budget debate

Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) on Thursday termed the RO plant project "mother of all scandals", saying that despite spending Rs 35 billion, the water purification installations were lying dead across the province. During the budget discussion in Sindh Assembly, PML-F legislator Imtiaz Shaikh said that "New East India Company of Sindh" was behind the big scam that had swallowed up to Rs 35 billion.
He also demanded withdrawal of the controversial gas infrastructure development cess (GIDC) and rejected the Sindh government's claim that the present PML-N government had imposed the levy. "The PPP government imposed the cess in 2011 and not the present PML-N government," he said and claimed that the GIDC was approved by the then president in 2011 when the PPP was in power at Centre.
Shaikh also rejected the Sindh government's claim on low federal transfers to the province, saying the transaction from Centre to all federating units remained short for its weak revenue accumulation during the current fiscal year. However, he pointed out that the amount of straight transfers from the federal government to Sindh had scaled up to Rs 72 billion from Rs 67 billion.
He regretted that Karachi and Shikarpur had been ignored in terms of development schemes. "If the PPP government has any differences with the opposition, it should not punish the people of the two major cities of the province," he said adding that Shikarpur direly needed a secondary school for girls to facilitate the female students who were forced to travel long distances to continue their education.
He said that a number of schemes were repeated in the budget 2014-15 that had been announced during the last two years or more. He expressed the hope that all the proposed projects would be implemented in the next fiscal year. He criticised the Sindh government for transferring Rs 27 billion to Sindh Culture Department for holding 'Sindh Festival'.
"It is difficult to understand that the government spent huge amount on the festival at the time when children in Tharparkar were dying due to famine," he said. Shaikh censured the government for having no chief economist to produce the budget. "For many years the province has been formulating budget without a chief economist," he told the house.
PML-N lawmaker Sorath Thebo slammed the provincial government for its failure to protect the women in Gotki from torture. She said that the attacks on minorities' worship places brought disgrace to the province. She said the PPP lawmakers were criticising the Punjab government for the Model Town incident but they never paid heeds to the cries of women victims of torture in Sindh.
She claimed that the Sindh Chief Minister's home district topped the lawlessness in the province. She observed that the province was under the dacoits' rule. Thebo was of the view that the Sindh government was in fact blaming the federal government for its own failures. Sindh Agriculture Minister Ali Nawaz Mahar ruled out imposition of income tax on farmers, saying what incentives the government had extended to tax the agriculture sector that was already struggling.
"There are a number of taxes on farmers who pay them during crops harvesting," he said, adding that "this is the only sector where half of the income is shared with farmers by land owners". He said the agriculture sector needed more incentives to improve its output and contribute to the national exchequer. "We [government] have hit the farmers in Sindh," he said, adding that the farmers could not afford more taxes with declining return on crops.
Mahar said there was a space for bringing improvement in the education and healthcare systems but defended the budgetary allocations for uplift schemes. He urged the opposition to understand the government's limitations and problems. PTI's lawmaker Samar Ali Khan said the provincial government should boost the education sector in the province. "Sri Lanka upstages all the subcontinent nations with 92 percent literacy rate followed by India 79 percent, Bangladesh 57 percent and Pakistan 55 percent," he said.
"If Sindh is compared with other provinces in terms of literacy rate, the province stands at 37 percent," he added. He appreciated the budgetary allocations for healthcare and education sectors but questioned the modes as to how the uplift schemes for these sectors would be implemented. Samar proposed the government to introduce reforms in taxation system and agriculture sector to help improve the revenue growth. He urged the provincial government to withdraw the proposed GST on services from education and private healthcare sectors, as taxing such sectors would further hit the poor.
Samar was of the view that the province could not afford events like Sindh Festival. "We cannot afford Sindh Festival as we are a poor nation," he said, suggesting that the government should follow transparency and merit in its affairs. PPP's lawmaker Syed Nair Shah urged the opposition that instead of criticising the government for the sake of criticism, it should give positive suggestions for the development of the nation. He, however, appreciated the opposition for its supportive attitude during the Chief Minister's budget speech.
He was of the view that the financial situation of all provinces and the federal government was alike that resulted in reduction of the allocation of funds for many projects. "In the present conditions, it is the suitable budget to produce," he said. He hoped that the provincial government would begin work on constructing a dry port in Sukkur that would benefit three provinces ie Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan. He said that the development of Sindh export processing zone would also help the province grow its external trade.
He said that the federal government had transferred around 35 percent less revenue to the province, which had hit a number of uplift schemes during the current fiscal year. He agreed that the government should not place taxes on health and education sectors but defended taxing beauty parlours and fashion designers. The house will resume its debate on budget on Thursday [today] morning.