KARACHI: Rifts be settled at CMs level: Punjab governor
KARACHI, July 4: Governor Lt-Gen Khalid Maqbool of Punjab on Friday said that national development projects should be seen in national perspective. Karachi is the country’s economic capital and its wellbeing is in best interest of the whole of Pakistan, he observed.
The governor was replying to a question on Thal Canal while talking to newsmen after addressing the members of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.
“No province should object to the development projects of any other province; and if there is some misunderstanding or dispute, it should be resolved by the concerned chief ministers,” he remarked.
Mr Maqbool said the interests of Sindh people were as supreme and dear to him as those of any other province. It is necessary that interests of other provinces should not be compromised.
He said that the major issue concerning the water scarcity was the water storage capacity in the country. “The solution is that we should stop flood water from going into the sea. Flood water should be stored in some dam that may be constructed anywhere but it has to be there,” he stressed.
However, when asked about the role of Punjab in the shortage of potable water in Sindh, especially Karachi, the governor said that it was the responsibility of the provincial government to ensure a smooth supply. Other provinces have nothing to do with such a problem or its solution, he added.
He hoped the problem of power shortage would be over next year and that hydel power generation would also help bring the tariff down. The rates of the Independent Power Plants’ supply would also come down by the end of the next year, he revealed.
The Punjab governor was of the view that the industrial and commercial economy was no longer a provincial issue as the industrialists established one factory in Karachi and another in Lahore; they bring labour from one province and take the management from the other place. “We should encourage the people and provide them opportunities to become richer.” It is the rich who would invest and provide jobs and consequently help fight unemployment and poverty. — APP
