Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Wednesday that the federal government by slashing Sindh’s development budget had done ‘injustice’ to the province, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Addressing a post-budget press conference in Karachi, Murad said this year the Centre had given the province Rs613 billion, and it seemed unlikely that the remaining Rs104 billion would be given.

Sindh CM, on the occasion, also announced to recruit over 30,000 people in government departments.

Referring to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MPAs who had held a noisy protest on the floor of Sindh Assembly on Tuesday (June 15) during his budget speech, Murad said they (PTI MPAs) talked about rejecting the Sindh budget. “Truth of the matter is that they were rejected by the people in 2018 general elections,” he said, and questioned, “Do you reject the budget in which Rs110 billion had been set aside for the provincial capital Karachi?”

“If we had the resources, we would have set aside Rs3, 000 billion for the country’s commercial hub,” he added.

He further said it was IRSA, and not Punjab, which was responsible for ‘unjust’ water distribution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEyh7vLX7Nw

Sindh chief minister told the media that the provincial government had reserved Rs500 million for Zakat and Usher. “Rs26 billion have been set aside for the education sector this time; up by 24 per cent,” he informed.

Similarly, he added, Rs90 million had been allocated for the Forest Department while 110 percent more funds had been allocated for the local government.

Sindh CM told out of the total number of schemes announced, 590 would be completed this year. “The provincial government has announced a new project for every Sindh district and tehsil,” he disclosed, and in the same breath added, “If any tehsil or district has been left out by mistake, we will include it later.”

Murad said the Sindh government had been battling the coronavirus for the last one and a half years now. “The PTI government, which takes credit for a successful campaign against the pandemic, said a lot of things,” he said, and alleged, “But the very same government does not allow us to purchase the vaccine neither does it tell us its price.”

CM said around 80 per cent people had recovered from the virus in Sindh. “We have delivered while the federal government’s emphasis has largely been on words,” he claimed.

Responding to the allegations levelled by the PTI that PPP had not delivered in Sindh, the chief minister said the provincial government had built Karachi-Thatta Road. “We have built Munnawar Suharwardy flyover over Sharae Faisal; Hub River Road; Punjab Chowrangi underpass; have re-carpeted Tariq Road, Stadium Road and developed Jahangir Park,” he explained.

Similarly, he added, the Sindh government had finished work on 60 dams while work on 23 dams was in progress.

Murad claimed that Prime Minister Imran Khan had once told him that the federal government did not have the capacity to run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).

Similarly, he informed, the provincial government was building ICI Bridge. “Raising salaries of government employees in the budget was not a cakewalk,” he told the media.

Commenting on the uproar witnessed on the floor of National Assembly on Tuesday (June 15), Sindh CM said some legislators were blowing whistles during the session. “So much so that nobody could hear somebody whisper. Every MNA’s attention was focused on the noise and nobody could listen to the opposition leader’s speech,” he commented.