LARKANA: Sindh Governor Imran Ismail has in equivocal terms declared that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf rejects Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s dem­and for the division of Sindh.

Speaking to media personnel at the residence of PTI Senator Saifullah Abro here on Friday, he said that PTI never wanted a division of the province. He was accompanying Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh.

The governor said that Pakistan Peoples Party’s Sindh government was a hurdle in the implementation of PTI’s ‘Naya Pakistan’ and Insaf Health Card schemes in the province. “Other provinces have successfully taken off with the schemes and are launching housing schemes while people there are getting the cards,” he noted.

He said in the execution of these schemes, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had attained “100 per cent” result while Punjab and Balochistan were performing well. With these schemes, new windows of job opportunities were being opened and new towns were being built but Sindh government was an obstruction in executing these schemes in this province, he said.

He said in his meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan last week, the PM had strictly asked for extensively visiting all districts of Sindh with a view to get people’s issues resolved. “I will submit my report to him and also talk to the chief minister in this regard,” he said. Regarding Karachi Package, the governor said he would discuss it with the CM as well.

‘Sindh government failed to spend Rs85bn present in finance dept’

He said installing [Adviser to the CM on law] Murtaza Wahab as Karachi administrator was “not a good omen”, as this would affect Karachi Package. “At this juncture, Sindh needs centre’s attention and the centre is ready to help,” he added.

Funds under NFC Award

Governor Ismail said Sindh had the record of not spending maximum allocations it received under the National Finance Commission (NFC) awards and it had also failed to spend Rs85 billion currently present in the finance department. He said distribution of funds under the NFC Award should be transparent, adding that the centre had been providing a just share to Sindh under the NFC Award.

Rejecting Sindh’s stance on water shortage, the governor said all provinces had equally faced cuts in supplies. “As soon as glaciers begin melting, the position starts improving and all provinces get their just share,” he explained, and claimed that the actual problem was unjust distribution of water within Sindh. He called upon the Sindh government to be fair in this regard.

Power utilities

The governor told the media that Prime Minister Imran Khan was paying due attention to the issue of performance of power utilities — the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) and Sukkur Electric Power Supply Company (Sepco). He pointed out that PTI Senator Saifullah Abro, as chairman of the upper house’s standing committee on power, was making his “best efforts” to address the problems.

Referring to civic issues in Sindh, he said it was quite discouraging to see unhygienic conditions in Sukkur, adding that unattended offal and stagnant rainwater were posing a threat to people’s health. He noted that people right from Karachi to Ubauro appeared worried about such conditions.

Delta variant of Covid-19

Turning to the increasing cases of Delta variant of Covid-19, the governor said it was more dangerous and demanded cleanliness hence urgent measures to remove offal and rainwater. “I will apprise the Sindh chief minister of the situation in a meeting with him,” he said.

Earlier, Governor Ismail drove from Sukkur airport to Mirpur Bhutto. He, along with Senator Abro, Haleem Sheikh and Mubeen Jatoi, offered his condolences to Amir Bakhsh Bhutto and Ali Haider Bhutto over the recent demise of Sardar Mumtaz Ali Bhutto.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2021