KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Sunday authorised expenditures for the remaining three quarters of the current financial year, 2018-19.

The previous assembly had passed the Rs1.445 trillion Sindh budget in May, but authorised an expenditure of Rs292.6 billion for the first quarters only. It left authorisation of expenditures for the remaining nine months to the next elected house.

The total current revenue expenditure is Rs773.3bn out of which Rs193.3bn stands authorised.

As against current capital expenditure of Rs27.3bn, Rs6.9bn has already been authorised. For development side, Rs63bn has already been authorised.

Originally, the total development budget outlay during current fiscal year was Rs343.911bn including Rs252bn estimated for provincial annual development programme and Rs30bn for district ADP schemes; Rs46.895bn from foreign projects assistance and Rs15bn by federal government through the public sector development programme (PSDP) schemes.

Murad says the govt will launch 1122 ambulance service in Karachi

The block allocation of Rs50bn for new schemes suffered a cut of Rs24bn because of shortfall in federal transfers.

The house also discussed cut motions submitted by the opposition against demand for grants for 2018-19 budget.

Some 113 cut motions were submitted against 26 demands of the total 153 demands for grants.

The opposition members discussed cut motions on 26 of demands for grants, but later in the middle Leader of the Opposition Firdous Shamim Naqvi withdrew cut motions on the remaining 14 demands for grants.

Rs59bn shortfall in three months

Earlier, while winding up debate on the budget for the remaining nine months, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said the provincial government was facing a shortfall of Rs59bn in the federal transfers, forcing it to slash its ADP schemes.

He said he had presented the budget originally in May and again “we are adopting the budget with some changes”.

Mr Shah said the first three months of current fiscal year had come to a close in which “we were supposed to receive Rs166bn but we have received Rs107bn showing a shortfall of Rs59 billion”.

“We have made a new policy under which 80 per cent funds have been allocated for ongoing schemes,” he said.

He said 90pc ongoing development schemes had been given 100pc allocation. “We are going to complete 956 schemes and had completed 700-plus such schemes last year.”

Mr Shah said new schemes that had been included in the revised ADP included village gasification; one medical college and the coastal highway.

“We want to save Indus Delta and stop sea intrusion by constructing 87-kilometre-long Sindh Coastal Highway.”

The chief minister said water supply and drainage schemes had been launched in the cities of Sindh — Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur.

He added that the Supreme Court-mandated water commission was also working on water supply and drainage schemes and those commitments had also been made in the election manifesto of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

He said canal lining was important to stop seepage and wastage of irrigation water. He added canal lining funds were used in six weeks because the lining work could be carried out in that period during canal closures.

FBR slammed for ‘stealing’ provincial funds

Mr Shah said the Federal Board of Revenue was completing its targets by ‘stealing’ provincial funds.

In 2016, the FBR had got released Rs6.7bn from the account of the provincial government giving a lame argument that the money was deducted because Rs1.4 million vehicles had been registered by the Sindh excise department, he said.

He said the matter was taken up with the State Bank of Pakistan which stopped at source deductions. “Now, they are reluctant to reconcile the account.”

Again in May last year, the chief minister said, to meet its targets the FBR made direct deduction from the local government department’s account in the National Bank of Pakistan. “I got an FIR registered against the bank concerned for an unauthorised deduction.”

Mr Shah said his government had accorded special focus on improving primary health care. He added health reforms had shown commendable improvement.

He said the cyber knife centre was first ever in the region where free-of-cost treatment was being provided. “[Some] 24 patients are treated there every day.”

He said a 12-storey surgical complex was being built at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) housing 18 operation theatres.

“This complex is being constructed with the support of donors. The JPMC administration has told me they had a shortfall of Rs1.3bn which the Sindh government is providing to them. The government is giving Rs13bn to the JPMC every year.

He said the provincial government was building 13 satellite centres of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Disease.

He said there were seven chest pain centres in Karachi and five more would be set up soon.

Rise in street crimes

About law and order situation in Sindh, the chief minister said police, Rangers and military had rendered exemplary sacrifices for restoration of peace in the city.

“In 2013, Karachi was the sixth dangerous city in the world when it had witnessed 51 terrorism incidents...such incidents are zero now”.

“In 2013 eight murder incidents were reported every day and now the figure has come down to one. In 2012, some 530 terror incidents had been reported in Karachi.”

Mr Shah said Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf could win election in July from Karachi because of peace in the city spearheaded by the PPP government. “Otherwise, you [PTI] would have never won it,” he said.

About street crime, he admitted that it had increased for certain reasons.

He said the provincial assembly was dissolved and an impression was created that the PPP would win election because they had posted their SSPs, DCs etc. So, the caretaker government resorted to transfer/postings spree, and the new officers had no knowledge of areas and districts and they failed to control the law and order, he added.

Mr Shah said his government had given a clear direction to the inspector general of police to wage a “war on street crime”.

146 cases of missing children reported this year

He said the issue of “missing” children was exaggerated, adding, all the eight children who were kidnapped in the city were recovered.

“We have 146 children missing cases this year. In Punjab there are 564 till August,” he said.

Mr Shah said good news came on June 10 when coal was excavated in Thar.

“By the end of this year, we would produce first electrons of power. Thar is a game changer and will bring energy revolution in Pakistan,” he said.

He said the government invested $1bn on construction of roads, airport and other facilities in Thar.

The chief minister said he was launching 1122 ambulance service in the city.

In the first phase, 66 ambulances of Aman Foundation were being inducted in the fleet and by the turn of current fiscal year the number of the ambulance fleet would be 200.

He said the Kalabagh dam would never be constructed because people of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan had rejected it.

He said he had paid Rs2.547 million as agriculture tax last year.

K-IV project

About K-IV project, Mr Shah said the scheme was planned in 2006-7 but it was ill-conceived in which land acquisition component was not included. When the project started, an amount of Rs5 billion was sought for land acquisition. The federal government refused to pay and only vowed to pay 50pc of the Rs25bn project.

He said the FWO had been given contract of the K-IV and was told that there would be no price escalation or time extension. Now Rs3.8bn price escalation was being demanded.

“If all the additional expenditures, including cost escalation, land acquisition are calculated the Sindh government’s share in K-IV comes to Rs21.5bn,” he said, adding: “The government needed federal government’s support for its completion; otherwise it would be very difficult.”

He said his government would punish the officers who made such ill-conceived planning but “we cannot punish the people of Karachi”.

He added he had heard that prime minister was giving Rs50bn for Karachi for which he had requested him to accord such funds first for K-IV to complete it in time.

He said the government had two helicopters which were purchased in 1992.

“We have no papers of those helicopters and we can’t sell them,” he said.

He said those helicopters needed hangars for parking and hangars could be built at the area under the control of the Civil Aviation Authority.

He said the Sindh government had purchase 104-metre-long snorkel for Karachi and 10 fire tenders, of which three would be given to the city and the rest would go to other districts.

The chief minister said selling of buffalos by the PM House for Rs2.3m could turn out to be a NAB case in future. “Milking a buffalo would fetch Rs2.2m in a year and you have sold eight buffalos in Rs2.3 million. It is already a big NAB case.”

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2018