KARACHI: More than 70 per cent population in the rural area of Jacobabad district is living below the poverty line, according to a written reply provided to Sindh Assembly members by the planning and development department on Friday.

The information was supplied in response to a question asked by Pakistan Peoples Party legislator Fayyaz Butt during the question hour about the department.

The data further revealed that over 65 per cent of population in Tharparkar district, over 48 per cent of population in Shikarpur district and 45 per cent population in Kashmore district were living below the poverty line.

Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, however, did not take up the PPP legislator’s question on the grounds that it had been asked by a ruling party member.

Sindh Minister for Planning and Development Murad Ali Shah said in response to a question by Muttahida Qaumi Movement legislator Kamran Akhtar about development funds allocated to MPAs priority programme that no funds had been allocated for the purpose in the annual development programme 2014–15.

Mr Shah said in answer to a question by MQM legislator Heer Soho about the marble city and its status that the Board of Investment (BoI) was developing it on 300 acres along the Northern Bypass and its cost was Rs140 million.

He said that it was an ongoing scheme and over Rs60 million had been spent on it so far and Rs15 million had been allocated for it in the current fiscal year. The marble city was being developed to facilitate the marble industry, he said.

MQM legislator Ashfaq Mangi raised the issue of encroachments on the land reserved for the scheme to which the minister said he would soon provide the information to the house after asking the BoI about it.

Pakistan Muslim League-Functional legislator Nusrat Sehar Abbasi raised question about the North Sindh Urban Service Corporation to which the minister admitted the organisation, which was set up to improve sanitation and solid waste collection in different towns of northern Sindh, was not satisfactory.

Speaker Durrani also added that the situation in the towns of northern Sindh including Larkana, Sukkur and Shikarpur where the organisation operated was pathetic. The minister said that its performance was being reviewed and appropriate action would be taken as soon as a report on its performance was received.

MQM’s Moin Pirzada asked about the number of posts filled in the department between Jan 1, 2008 and March 15, 2013 against urban quota and the minister replied that 60 people had been appointed to posts ranging from BPS-17 to BPS-1 against the urban quota.

Responding to a question by Ms Abbasi about Sindh Coastal Communities Development Project the minister said that it was an over Rs3 billion project out of which over Rs2.5 billon were provided by the Asian Development Bank and was implemented in eight coastal talukas of Thatta and Badin districts.

Several link roads, water supply schemes, school buildings, toilets, fish ponds and rafts were developed and mangroves were planted on over 10,000 hectares under the project, he said.

PML-N legislator Sorath Thebo raised the issue of withering of mangrove plants planted under the project to which Sindh Minister Sikander Mandhro, who looked after the Coastal Development Authority (CDA), said the plants needed seawater to grow and when it did not reach the plantations the trees died down, but the dying ones were soon replaced by other saplings from the nurseries of Sindh forests department and CDA.

He said the mangrove forests were flourishing and anyone could witness them.

MQM legislators Irum Farooqui, Kamran Akhtar, Aisha Khatoon, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf legislator Seema Zia, and others also participated in the question hour.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2016