KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly was on Friday informed that the provincial government was formulating an action plan against the “drug mafia” and a grand operation would be launched soon.

Responding to a call attention notice given by Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal MPA Syed Abdur Rasheed, Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla said that the action plan was being formulated by all stakeholders, including federal agencies, to curb drug trafficking in the province.

Terming the use and sale of drugs a curse, he said that there was a dire need for joint efforts by all stakeholders to eradicate the menace in the country.

The minister conceded that the drugs were also being used by students of educational institutions, including schools and colleges, and added that it was the government’s top priority to stop drug menace at educational institutes. “A large-scale action will begin in a few days,” he assured the house.

MPA Rasheed says around 3m addicts consume 42 tonnes of drugs in Karachi alone every year

The MMA lawmaker in his call attention notice stated that drugs were being sold openly in different parts of the city, especially Lyari and Keamari. He said that drug abuse posed a threat to the peace and order.

Huge consumption of drugs in city

Referring to a report, the lawmaker said that over 2.48 tonnes of heroine and 21.8 tonnes of hashish were consumed in Karachi every year. He asked as to what steps were taken by the provincial government to eradicate the menace.

He said that there were over 6.6 million drug addicts in the country and of them three million alone were in Karachi.

Mr Rasheed said that according to international reports New York stood first with the use of 77 tonnes of drugs every year, while Karachi was second where 42 tons of drugs consumed in a year.

He was of the view that Lyari had witnessed gang war in the past mainly due to drug dens. “Now the drugs and narcotics are being sold openly in the vicinity once again,” he said, adding that the police and Rangers were also fully aware of the heinous business going on in Lyari.

Digital census

To another call attention notice given by Nand Kumar Goklani of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), the minister said that the provincial government would ensure that no injustice with Sindh was done in the forthcoming digital census.

The GDA MPA in the notice said that the 7th census was going to be held from March 1 to April 1 and asked the provincial government as to what step had been taken to launch awareness campaigns in this regard.

The minister said that as long as the Pakistan Peoples Party was there, no one would dare to harm the interests of the province in the upcoming census.

Question Hour

Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro informed the house that there was a huge shortage of water in the province and said that the provincial government had taken up the issue with the federal government repeatedly demanding that Sindh be given its water share under the Water Accord, 1991.

Furnishing statement and replies of lawmakers’ written and verbal queries in the house, he said that the irrigation department distributed water through watercourses, adding that the department had a network of 13,000 miles.

“A lot of water is wasted due to rough watercourses,” he said.

In reply to a question by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s parliamentary party leader Khurrum Sher Zaman, the minister said that there was no illegal practice of sand lifting along the dykes of Mir Wah Irrigation Channel by truckers.

To a question by PTI’s Addeba Hassan, he said that the encroachment removal operations were carried out along the Right Bank canals of the Sukkur Barrage on the orders of the Sindh High Court.

He said that as many as 7,113 different kinds of structures were established and of them 6,532 structures were removed.

The sitting was adjourned to Monday at 10am.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2023