KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Monday claimed that the provincial government has successfully dealt with the problem of ‘no-go areas’ in the province, after according top priority to law and order.
Replying to a call-attention notice during the Sindh Assembly sitting, the CM said his government has stepped up to stem the armed robberies as police killed at least 29 dacoits during encounters and recovered 63 kidnapped persons in Shikarpur District over the past 15 months. Similarly, the law enforcers have killed 23 armed robbers in Kashmore District.
Murad, who also holds the Sindh Home Department’s portfolio, told the house that about five police personnel including officers died from kidnapers’ gunshots during an operation for recovering abductees in Ghotki District. He said the police had killed a dacoit in the area, which ensured the deadly incident.
The government has restored the order as there is ‘no-go area’ exists in the province, recalling that people would have to travel under the army escorts from Sukkur to Lakhi and Shikarpur for a protection against the armed dacoits.
Nand Kumar, GDA’s minority legislator, had raised the issue of deteriorating law and order in the province during his call attention notice, saying that the Sindh government spares about Rs120 billion annually in the fiscal budget to the Home Department and yet the peace is disturbed.
“Hepatitis-C disease is growing in the province,” Sindh Health Minister, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho told the house, saying that the government has the capacity and capability to control the deadly disease. “The Sindh government has the remedy and funds to cope with the disease,” she added.
She was responding to a supplementary question that hepatitis B and C versions are spreading in the province from a “wrong” practice of injections. She said that there are no such pre-hepatitis C and D vaccinations but children aged up to two years are vaccinated for the disease under the PIH.
The non-doctoring and such other staffs will be sacked at the Jinnah Post Graduate Hospital, she said that all departments of the medical institute do not have a biometric system for their employees for a daily attendance. However, she said that there is a need for more appointments at the hospital, which is expected to spur its annual spending. The Sindh government has spent nearly Rs5 billion to run the Jinnah Hospital operations after the Federal government failed to budget it, she added.
Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah informed the house about 480 posts of Arabic teachers stand vacant at the government-run schools, which will be filled. He rejected the impression that music learning will cause “vulgarity” in the society, saying that “music increases the creativity in the students.”
Earlier, Mufti Qasim Fakhri of the TLP raised the issue of Arabic teaching staff missing from the government’s schools. He said: “The music teachers are appointed but there are no Arabic teachers at the government’s schools.” He demanded of the government to stop the music teachers’ appointments, claiming that there are 40,000 “ghost” teachers at the government-run schools.
The PTI’s lawmakers staged a walkout after being denied to read out a call attention notice. Speaker, Aga Siraj Khan Durrani said that there is only a 30-minute span allocated for the call attention notice under the rules and procedures of the Sindh Assembly, which has elapsed. Ali Imran Shah of the PTI wanted to raise the issue of “Matiari corruption scandal” during his call attention notice but denied the chance, which led to his party members’ walkout from the house.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022