NFC & Balochistan issues to be resolved soon, says Soomro
By Dawn Report
THATTA, Nov 28: Acting President and Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro has expressed the hope that the issue of the National Finance Commission award and those pertaining to some provinces, particularly Balochistan, will soon be sorted out.
He was talking to journalists at the residence of Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister on Forests Syed Aijaz Ali Shah Shirazi and his brother, Thatta District Nazim Syed Shafqat Hussain Shah Shirazi, here where he had come on Sunday to offer condolence to them on the death of their mother.
He said that that the Balochistan issue would be resolved according to recommendations being compiled by a parliamentary committee headed by Senator Mushahid Hussain. Mr Soomro said that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had convened a special meeting on the contentious issues in January, adding that President Gen Pervez Musharraf was also interested in resolving the NFC award issue.
When asked about election of the leader of the opposition in Senate, he regretted that the opposition was unnecessarily making it an issue. Responding to a question about release of Asif Ali Zardari, he said Mr Zardari had not been released under any agreement with the government.
On this occasion, the Thatta district nazim briefed Mr Soomro on development schemes being carried out in the district. He demanded that the president should ensure release of river water downstream Kotri, saying that it would protect the Indus delta and save lands in Thatta and Badin districts from being submerged by seawater.
He also demanded that the president should order factories working in the area to recruit local people. MNA Ayaz Shah Shirazi and MPAs Manzoor Ali Shah and Sarfaraz Shah were also present on the occasion. Later, Mr Soomro went to Kotri.
HYDERABAD: The senate chairman told journalists in Kotri that keeping in view an acute shortage of water in the country, there was a dire need for constructing water reservoirs.
Answering a question about the Kalabagh dam, he said that efforts were being made to evolve a national consensus over the Kalabagh dam and other reservoirs and added that a final decision would be taken keeping in view the interests of the country.
Earlier, speaking at a reception hosted by the Kotri Association of Trade and Industry, he said that the government had provided incentives to industrialists and private sector was being encouraged to set up more industrial units for creating job opportunities.
He said that the government would purchase 1,000 acres of land for the expansion of the Kotri industrial area and added that the government was doing its best to revive sick industrial units to strengthen the national economy.
He said that the Kotri SITE was an ideal industrial zone as despite odds, it had remained unaffected by the vagaries of time and sizeable foreign investment had been made there.
About the construction of a sports complex and a bridge over railway crossing in Kotri, the chairman of the Senate held out an assurance that the schemes would be implemented as soon as possible.
He offered cooperation in the establishment of a dialysis centre at a cost of Rs40 million with the help of industrialists in Kotri and commended the industrialists for their contribution in the social sector.
He expressed the hope that industrial sector would continue to play an effective role in development of the country. Earlier, in his welcome address, the chairman of the KATI, Mian Tauqeer Tariq, thanked the Senate chairman for taking interest in development of the industrial zones in Kotri and Nooriabad. He added that Mr Soomro had taken keen interest in fresh investments in the Kotri SITE.
Speaking on the occasion, the senior vice-chairman of the association, Tariq Baloch, underlined the problems of the industrialists and particularly referred to the problems caused by a delay in the construction of the overhead bridge. He demanded that Kotri be made a district.
