SUKKUR: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has said that Pakistan’s Covid-19 policy has been appreciated globally, and advised the masses to follow the government’s prescribed SOPs (standard operating procedures) cautioning that the virus was still there.

Mr Umar, who also heads the National Command Operation Centre (NCOC), was speaking to the media after arriving here on Friday on a three-day visit to Sukkur, Ghotki, Larkana, Jacobabad and Shikarpur districts.

Soon after his arrival, he drove to Ubauro town to meet MPA Sardar Shaharyar Khan Shar. Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi and several other PTI leaders accompanied the federal minister.

Mr Umar told local reporters that spread of the virus would affect both the health and livelihood of people.

Expressing his dismay over a lack of development in Sindh for over a decade, he pointed out that Sindh’s 70 per cent gas was produced in Ghotki district that had 250 gas wells. “This region should have been far ahead of other parts of the province ... industrial zones and schools should have been built here,” he argued.

The minister undertakes three-day visit to five districts

He said Pakistan Peoples Party had been ruling over the province for more than a decade. “Has the situation in this province improved or turned worse?” he asked.

He recalled that a huge development package had recently been announced for Karachi, and said similar packages would be given to other parts of Sindh.

The minister said that development works in all these five districts were required to be undertaken. The centre, through Sindh government, was going to execute federal-funded development projects at a fast pace, he added.

During his overnight stay in Ghotki, the federal minister was to hold a meeting with local PTI workers.

On Saturday, the minister would address a meeting of PTI youths at Sweet Garden, Sukkur, and then proceed to Jacobabad to offer his condolence to Federal Minister for Privatisation Mohammedmian Soomro over the recent death of his mother.

Asad Umar will also visit Shikarpur to meet Agha Taimur and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) MNA Ghous Bux Khan Mahar in Wazirabad. He will then proceed to Larkana.

Before flying back to Islamabad, the minister would attend a luncheon to be hosted by PTI leader Syed Tahir Hussain Shah in Rohri. He is expected to brief the media about his three-day visit to Sindh after the luncheon.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2020