HYDERABAD, June 15: Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister for Local Bodies and Katchi Abadis Waseem Akhtar has said that the government believes in serving the downtrodden.

He was speaking at the stone-laying ceremony of a filter plant in Matiari on Wednesday.

The filter plant is being constructed under the Sindh Devolved Social Services Programme at a cost of Rs5.3 million.

When completed after six months, it would benefit about 40,000 people of the district.

Mr Akhtar said that the basic purpose of creating districts was to bring under-developed areas of the province at par with developed ones and to provide basic facilities to the people of neglected areas.

He said that the government did not believe in politics of slogans but in the practical service of the people.

He said that all the people living in Sindh were Sindhis and brothers and it was therefore the duty of all to work collectively for the development and prosperity of the province.

He urged the people not to pay any heed to the negative propaganda of so-called nationalists because during the last 58 years, they had given nothing to the people except creating hatred among them.

Mr Akhtar said that the Pakistani nation was fortunate in having leaders like President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shoukat Aziz.

He claimed that both the leaders had constructive thinking and were striving hard for the development of the country and prosperity of the nation.

He said that the Memon colony katchi abadi of Matiari district spread over 12 acres would be regularised and the residents would be given proprietary rights.

He said that all the districts including Matiari would be supplied fire brigades.

MPA Jalal Shah Jamote, Matiari DCO Usman Chachar, officials of the district government, councillors and a large number of people were present on the occasion.

Talking to reporters, the adviser said that newly-created districts of Hyderabad would receive the same share of development funds from the presidential package which was allocated to them before they came into existence.

Answering a question, he said that no registered village in Karachi was being demolished and added that illegal encroachments would be removed at all cost.

He called upon the district administration to furnish development priorities so that the summary could be submitted to the chief minister for funds.