KARACHI: The provincial assembly on Wednesday approved the Sindh Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016, allowing the government to nominate its minister, adviser or special assistant as chairperson of the educational board.

Earlier speaking on the need to amend the bill, Senior Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said it was a simple amendment, as there were institutions in Sindh whose board of governors was chaired by some minister or an adviser or a special assistant in his absence.

When MQM lawmaker Syed Sardar Ahmad referred to the Sindh High Court’s ruling on Tuesday about nomination of adviser or special assistant, the minister said he would not comment on the court ruling, as he had not gone through its details. However, he said, there were advisers at the federal level, too, because there was no mention in the constitution that unelected persons could not become adviser. He said it was quite surprising that a barrister was not competent to become adviser on law. He added the Sindh government might challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

When Sardar Ahmad said there was no provision in the constitution for special assistant, Mr Khuhro said according to the parliamentary traditions, there were parliamentary secretaries and any person could be the nominee of a minister.

By tabling two motions, the minister withdrew the government bill — The Sindh Right to Information Bill, 2016 — and introduced another bill — The Sindh Transparency and Right to Information Bill, 2016. After its introduction, the bill was referred to the select committee of the house, which was constituted to consider the earlier withdrawn bill and directed the committee to report back with its recommendation within a week.The last item on the order of the day was election of two lawmakers on the Board of Sindh Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority, which was deferred on the suggestion of the minister.

Deputy Speaker Syeda Shehla Raza, who was presiding over the later part of the session, adjourned the session till Thursday 10am when the house would meet in the old building of the assembly.

Earlier, Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, who called the house in order at 10.45am, advised MQM lawmaker Syed Sardar Ahmad to write a book based on his experience and observations which he came across while serving in various capacities from deputy commissioner to the chief secretary. He said it would be quite informative book. He also offered him to give any assistance to facilitate him.

Water accord

During the question hour, Sindh Health Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro said Punjab was persistently violating the 1991 water accord and its reservations were not being addressed. In the water accord, he said, there was no mention of Greater Thal Canal which was carved out forcefully. He said there was no shortage of water but it was injustice on the part of the Punjab, which did not allow Sindh to have its share with the result that the agricultural land in the province was reduced by 23 per cent every year, while the cultivable area in Punjab was on the rise.

MQM lawmaker Syed Sardar Ahmad said considering the importance of the water issue for Sindh, one day should be fixed to discuss it in the house. Mr Durrani welcomed the suggestion.

Raising the issue of irregularities in giving approval to the purchase of a huge snorkel for Rs570 million, leader of the opposition Khwaja Izhar-ul-Hassan said the same type of snorkel was bought for Rs270 million only by the Punjab government indicating that the Sindh government had to make excess payment of Rs300 million.

Mr Hassan, who was speaking on his call attention notice, also said there was no road across the city except I.I. Chundrigar Road on which such a snorkel could be moved. He demanded that this matter be investigated by the anti-corruption establishment, National Accountability Bureau or any other agency about the need of paying Rs300 million over the market price.

Responding to the demand of the leader of the opposition, Local Government Minister Jam Khan Shoro said there was a contradiction in the remarks of the leader of the opposition, as the snorkel was not bought but was in the process of bidding. At this stage, how could corruption have been committed when no deal had been signed so far, he added.

Besides, more and more high-rise buildings were being constructed which required modern snorkel to deal in case of emergency to secure life and property of people, he said.

The minister recalled that a fire had erupted in a multi-storey office building in Clifton during the month of Ramazan and two persons stuck up on the eighth floor could not be rescued for want of proper snorkel. The incident resulted in their death, he added. In order to prevent such tragedies, the government had decided to purchase a snorkel which must be at least 100 metres tall.

In response to the call attention notice of PML-N lawmaker Syed Amir Hyder Shirazi regarding need for construction of road from Mirpur Bathoro to Daro and Bhano Road, Sindh Minister for Works and Services Imdad Pitafi assured him that its PC-1 was ready.

Senior Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro in response to the call attention notice of MQM lawmaker Naheed Begum said the government had allowed hunting of the migratory birds coming from Siberia in winters but action was being taken against those involved in hunting without permit.

In reply to the call attention notice of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf lawmaker Khurram Sherzaman about encroachment in Saddar and Burnes Road, causing hardships to pedestrians, the local government minister said pushcart vendors and others involved in trading on roads and footpaths were often removed by the administration but they return after some time. It was for this reason that the government was considering to provide them a specific area to set up markets where they could run their business.

Published in Dawn November 24th, 2016