KARACHI: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Thursday accused the Pakistan Peoples Party government in Sindh of having embezzled Rs33 billion through the RO plant project in the province and appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of the “huge scam”.

Addressing a joint press conference, PTI leaders and members of the Sindh Assembly Khurram Sher Zaman and Haleem Adil Sheikh severely criticised the Sindh government for the “massive corruption” in the RO plants project and “patronage” of dacoits in the province.

Mr Zaman said the PTI was exposing another corruption scandal where Rs33bn of taxpayers’ money was looted. This project, he said, was imitated seven years ago with an estimated cost of Rs13bn.

“But over the years, the cost has jumped to Rs33 billion with no results achieved. It’s so unfortunate that the National Accountability Bureau is not taking any notice [of] this huge corruption scandal,” he said.

He said Pak Oasis had to install 750 RO plants with three years whereas only 578 plants were installed and the rest were still ‘missing’.

He claimed that over 90 per cent of these plants were now out of order.

The PTI leader also lashed out at PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and asked him to inquire from his father about “Asia’s biggest RO plant project”.

“The plants installed in Lyari and Keamari are non-functional. The water board is also involved in this regard as tens of millions of rupees were given for maintenance of these plants but no record was maintained,” he said.

“The corrupt officers of the water board are also part of this great fraud. All RO plants in Thar are out of order. The plants installed in the constituency of CM Murad Ali Shah are also non-functional. More than Rs150 million was spent on a single RO plant while the same amount was spent on operating maintenance but all went into corruption,” he added.

He said 38 of 40 RO plants installed in Manchhar Lake were also non-operational. A proper investigation must also be initiated against former chief minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, the then finance minister and current CM Murad Ali Shah and all chief secretaries in the corruption scandal, he added.

He announced that they would approach NAB and the anti-corruption department on the issue and demanded that the federal government also investigate it.

“We also request the chief justice Pakistan to take suo motu notice on this very issue,” he added.

Haleem Adil Sheikh also criticised the PPP government and said that Sindh was experiencing a dacoits’ rule under the PPP.

“The dacoits in Sindh are returning with force in different districts. Now the Sindh government has an IG of their own wish. There are police officers who are awarding peace prizes to the dacoits,” he added.

He said that the katcha areas of the province were practically ruled by the dacoits while the PPP ministers were supporting them.

He demanded that the Rangers be given powers in the whole province.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2020