KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said Sunday that the PTI government was asking for the accounts of Rs18 billion it had reportedly given to province, but ‘we are asking them to give us the account of Rs9,000 billion’ it recovered under different taxes from the people of the province during the last three years.
“We are not showing our performance through press conferences, toll claims, and pack of lies but our performance is evident from the results of the elections we have been winning one after another with more and more majority and set a record of winning all the by elections,” he said while addressing an open kutchery at Meerut Housing Society Ahsanabad, here today. The provincial ministers, Imtiaz Shaikh, Sardar Shah, Nasir Shah, Sajid Jokhio, Shahla Raza, Administrator Karachi Murtaza Wahab, MNAs and MPAs from Malir and district west were also present. Commissioner Karachi, AIG Karachi, DIG East Zone, DCs of East and West and concerned SSPs, MD Water Board, administrators of DMC were also present.
The chief minister said that some of the federal ministers and representatives of the PTI government shamelessly asked for the accounts of Rs18 billion they have given to the provincial government during the last three years, but he told them categorically that he was not answerable to them. “I am answerable to the people of the province, and they always repose their confidence in PPP by giving it mandate one after another to rule,” he said.
Mr Shah said that the PTI government had collected Rs9,000 billion from Karachi during the last three years but what they had given in return to Sindh, except short payments of Rs370 billion from its share, rendering 25,000 people, including 1650 of Pakistan steel, jobless, making people under-employed through abnormal inflation, unleashing the ghost of ever-increasing price hike, creating wheat and sugar crisis and causing an overall unrest among the people of the country.
The CM said that he was happy if the federal government or any other agency was coming to Sindh to undertake development works. Shah said that the `selected’ government of PTI had no ability or strength to rule in the interest of the people of the country as it had destroyed the economy, promoted nepotism and corruption and torn apart the ethics of the political culture.
According to the chief minister, the federal government had completely failed to show an appropriate growth in the national economy and missed their tax collection targets.
Revenue Collection: Talking about revenue collection by his government, Mr Shah said that the provincial tax receipts during 2020-21 were Rs128.52 billion which showed a 28 percent increase than the last year, 2019-20 and this year, the collection target had been set at Rs154.94 billion.
He added that during the same year, the collection of Sindh Sales Tax on Services was collected at Rs135 billion and non-tax receipts were Rs49.87 billion. “If our three year performance in terms of revenue receipts are calculated, they showed a 14 percent increase,” he said.
Current Revenue Expenditures: The Current Revenue Expenditure for 2021-22, is estimated to grow by 12 percent to Rs1,089.372 billion in 2021-22, the CM said and added: “The increase is mainly because salary and pension bill is rising by 13 percent and 10 percent, respectively, while grants to local bodies have been increasing by 5 percent to Rs82.00 billion, police department’s budget surged by 5 percent to Rs106.913 billion, health budget increased by 30 percent to Rs181.217 billion due to Covid-19 situation, education budget raised by 13.2 percent to Rs268.414 billion, and Rs30.9 billion have been allocated for pro-poor Social Protection and Economic Sustainability Initiatives.”
Women Development: The funds allocated for women development department in 2021-22 have been increased by 64.09% from Rs348.581 million to Rs 571.975million, the CM said and added Rs64 million have been kept for poor women and children in Sindh. He added that Darul Amaan at Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana and Shaheed Benazirabad had been handed over to the Women Development Department.
Education Sector: The overall Current Revenue Expenditure of education sector on expenditure side has been increased by 14.2 percent from Rs243.143 billion to Rs.277.556 billion in 2020-21.
Talking about key initiatives, the chief minister said that the government schools were being made for Rs5 billion, free textbooks distribution for Rs2.3 billion, non-formal education centers being operationalized for Rs600 million to reduce the rate of `out of reach’ school children, furniture being provided to schools for Rs6.623 billion. “We are also providing stipends to girl students for which Rs800 million have been allocated.
Transport: Mr Shah said that in order to develop the Mass Transit System, Rs7.640 billion had been allocated. “We are procuring 250-Diesel Hybrid Electric Buses under “Sindh Intra-District Peoples Buses Services Project for Rs6.476 billion,” he said. He added that Red and Blue Line projects of Rs35 billion and Rs28 billion, respectively, were being launched within the next few months.
Karachi Package: The chief minister said that under Karachi package, 132 schemes had been completed for Rs43,068.777 million, and of them, 89 schemes of Rs18764.329 million were executed by local government department, 33 others for Rs21,983.189 million and 10 by KDA for Rs2,321.259 million.
The CM said that 113 schemes of Rs18,008.028 million were in progress, including 71 schemes by local govt department for Rs14,571 million and 38 by KDA for Rs2,041.709 million. Mr Shah said that Rs28,315.258 million schemes were under the process of approvals.
COVID-19 response: The CM said that the Covid-19 had become a global challenge with its massive impacts on all countries, especially in the areas of public health, employment, economic growth and social and business protection. Resultantly, for this extraordinary challenge, the matching measures were to be taken to tackle it. During 2019-20, Rs6.9 billion were provided through Corona Emergency Fund (CEF) and Special Grants in 2020-21, Rs25.7 billion were provided to Covid-19 related activities specially by providing Health Risk Allowances, PPEs, PCR Kits, Ration Bags, Cold Chain Storage and establishing Covid-19 Isolation and Vaccinations Centers. During CFY 2021-22 Rs4.2 billion have been provided so far to combat with covid-19.
Public complaints: The chief minister after his address invited public complaints against prolonged power outage, encroachments, water and sewerage issues and police highhandedness, illegal bus and truck terminals and requested him for regularization of villages.
The chief minister after his address invited public complaints, and most of the complaints people raised were against prolonged power outage, encroachments, water and sewerage issues and police highhandedness, illegal bus and truck terminals, They also requested him for regularization of villages.
The chief minister then and there directed the concerned departments to note the issues raised by the people and give him a report along with redressal. He directed the commissioner Karachi to show zero tolerance against land grabbing. At the conclusion of the open kutchery, the chief minister mixed up with the people present there and got selfies with them. The public received with deafening slogans of Jeay Bhutto, Jeay Bilawal Bhutto and Jeay Murad Ali Shah.
The chief minister announced that on the directives of Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, his ministers would be holding open kutcheries in every district of the province while he himself would hold open kutcheries in divisional headquarters. Inauguration of Road: Earlier, Shah inaugurated Tariq Ghauri Road constructed for Rs483 million at Ahsanabad.