KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Thursday passed “The Sindh Public Finance Administration Bill 2019” into law, despite opposition.

MQM’s Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan objected to the legislation, saying that the province has no internal audit system for the last 72 years. He called the inexistence of the audit system a “joke”.

Without naming anyone, he said that the province is being governed by one man, saying all the powers seem to be vested in one person.

The Sindh Finance Department is seeking to grab unlimited powers instead of correcting its performance and affairs, Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan said. However, Sindh Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla rejected the opposition impression, saying that the legislation will help improve transparency in the government business.

Before, the bill was adopted with a majority vote, the house tabled a standing committee report.

The legislature also gave a nod to The Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2021. A resolution from opposition leader, Haleem Adil Shaikh of PTI for a prayer break during the session proceedings was also approved unanimously by the house. Chief Minister Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah told the house during questions and answers session that the government gives raise in salaries to its employees as per available financial resources.

He said that the all governments are in a serious deliberation as how to tackle the growing financial burden of pensions. The pension related budgets are becoming difficult for the government to bear. Rejecting the impression, he said that there is a need of Rs3000 billion to develop Karachi on modern lines, he said the Sindh government allocates funds as per available budget for uplift projects.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021