KARACHI, Sept 21: The Sindh Assembly on Tuesday adopted a significant resolution, which pertained to associating the MPAs in finalizing of the development projects by the city and district governments in the province in their respective constituencies.

The resolution was moved by Muhammad Abbas Jaferi in the afternoon session, during which four out of five resolutions were adopted unanimously, while the fifth was withdrawn by the mover.

Since the focus of Mr Jaferi's resolution on a private members' day was more on the city district government of Karachi, so amendment was suggested from across the divide, and even the chair proposed that it should encompass the entire province.

Mr Shoaib Bokhari also suggested that even the federal government projects should be brought under the purview of this resolution. The house finally adopted the amended resolution, which would have far-reaching impact on the lower tier of governance and the Sindh Local Government Ordinance itself.

The amended resolution said: "This assembly is of the opinion, and recommends to the government of Sindh, that the MPAs of respective districts in the province be associated in relation to the development schemes of district, provincial and federal governments before their finalization in a more realistic and effective manner."

The fifth resolution was withdrawn by the mover from treasury benches, when Planning Minister Shoaib Bokhari opposed its adoption directly, and suggested to send it to the committee on finances. Earlier, when the chair solicited the opinion of the members, the resolution was opposed by Nasrullah Shaji of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Mr Rafique Engineer of the PPP.

The motion, which was adopted with majority, was moved by Farhad Jatoi from Treasury benches under Rule 211 by suspending the rules 179 after the motion of Ms Sassui Palejo of the PPP was rejected by the house by 63 against 43 votes on the same subject.

Ms Palejo, in support of her motion pointed out that Sindh was already facing acute shortage of water and the Punjab government was blocking the flow of water towards Chashma canal, which would cause loss of Rs40 billion to the province according to secretary irrigation.

The treasury benches wanted some amendment in the motion of Ms Palejo before putting it to vote, but senior parliamentarian of the PPP, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, insisted to put the motion in its original form.

The motion said: "This assembly is of the opinion that the government of Sindh should take extra measures to ensure the share of water for Sindh in the backdrop of calamity recently predicted by the ISRA."

When the resolution was put to vote, the house witnessed division in the ranks of the treasury benches, as provincial minister Naseer Khoso voted along with the opposition in favour of the resolution, while when the chair called to stand those against the motion, five members from the treasury benches remained seated when their colleagues stood up to oppose the motion. The nonconforming members were, Syed Manzoor Sheerazi, Sohrab Sarki, Rajveer Singh, Ramesh Lal and Eshwar Das.

The motion moved by Farhad Jatoi, and adopted with voice vote, reads: "This House does place on record its deep sense of appreciation for the efforts undertaken by the government of Sindh to get Sindh's share of water in accordance with the provisions of the 1991 Water Accord and for its efforts to overcome the shortage of water in the River Indus."

The other motion, which was adopted unanimously with amendment was moved by Makhdoom Jamiluz Zaman of the PPP, reads: "This assembly is of the opinion that the illegal immigrants be deported in accordance with the law."

While the wordings of the original motion were: "This assembly is of the opinion that the illegal immigrants belonging to India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and other countries be extradited to their original countries."

The resolution, which after division was withdrawn by the mover, Dr Abdul Aziz Bantwa, called for recommending to the Sindh government to make necessary amendment in the Sindh Assembly members' salaries and allowances Act as to allow the increase in the salaries and allowances of the members with retrospective effect from Dec 12, 2002.

The resolution was opposed by Nasrullah Shaji and Rafique Engineer, who termed it an extra burden on the people of the province, and suggested that instead, the amount should be utilized on projects for betterment of the people.

Planning Minister Shoaib Bokhari said either the resolution should be deferred till next Tuesday for consideration, or be referred to the committee on finance. Seeing opposition from the treasury benches, Mr Bantwa withdrawn the resolution.

The four resolutions adopted by the house with slight adjustment of wording were moved by Mrs Rehana Nasreen, Mr Muhammad Abbas Jafferi, Syed Talib Imam and Syed Tayab Hussain Hashmi, respectively, are as follows: "This House does recommend to the Government of Sindh to approach Federal Government and recommend that the last date to new entries in electoral rolls 2001, which is 31-8-2004, may be extended up to Dec 31, 2004, as a large number of new voters in Sindh still remain to be entered into the said rolls."

"This assembly is of the opinion and recommends to the government of Sindh to approach the federal government that the National Highway Authority be directed to pace up the work over Northren bypass so that smooth flow of traffic over the arterial roads of the city may be ensured."

"This house does recommend to the government of Sindh that due to sudden increase in the prices of Ghee/oil, atta, sugar and milk, the life of common people suffer hardships. As such the price controlling authority should take appropriate steps to stop price hike of above items.

Earlier, when the afternoon session began at 3.45pm with Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah in the chair, the private bill No 7 of 2003, to amend the Ziauddin Medical University Act, 1995, was deferred for consideration till the next day for private business.