KARACHI, Dec 25: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has announced the release of Rs500 million for the development of Lyari. The chief minister was speaking at an open kutchery at Khaliq Jumma Hall in Lyari on Thursday.

He said that the residents of Lyari are peaceful people and have been working towards the progress of the country. He added that the people of Lyari pledged their allegiance to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto the very day the Pakistan People’s Party was founded and that workers and ‘jiyalas’ from Lyari had been rendering sacrifices and working for the party ever since.

He said he hoped that the people of Lyari would continue to elect PPP candidates. The chief minister said Lyari was currently deprived of development only because the PPP had been kept out of power for the last 13 years.

Announcing the release of Rs500 million for development projects in Lyari, he said the money would be used on water, gas and drainage projects. In addition the roads of the area would be improved, and the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Girls Degree College and Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Law College would soon be established. Health facilities would be improved, and doctors will be appointed, he said.

Chief minister Shah described the youth of Lyari as very talented and said another football ground would be developed on 10 acres of land in the area. He declared that capable and poor young people of Lyari would be given jobs on a priority basis while the poor would also be given plots free of cost.

He said that the poor women of Lyari would be paid Rs1,000 a month under the Benazir Bhutto Income Support programme.

Addressing the kutchery, Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping, Nabil Gabol said that the PPP was in power today because of every drop of blood shed by the Bhutto family, particularly Benazir Bhutto, and the sacrifices of party workers.

He announced that able and young people of Lyari would be given jobs in the the Karachi Port Trust, the Port Qasim Authority and other federal government organisations.

Earlier, Provincial Minister Mohammed Rafiq Engineer, MPA Saleem Hingoro, Town Nazim Mohammed Hashim, PPP leader Habib Jan and UC Nazim Abdul Rauf also addressed the gathering and apprised the chief minister about their area’s problems.

The chief minister received applications from the people and issued orders on them wherever necessary.

Earlier, on arrival in Lyari Town, people standing on both sides of the road from Khoja Jamaat Khana to Khaliq Jumma Hall gave the chief minister a warm welcome and showered petals on him, amidst slogans of “Zinda Hai Bibi Zinda Hai”, “Bhutto Zinda Hai” and “Chief Minister Zindabad”.—APP