Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Karachi chapter chief organizer Tariq Chandiwala has said that the Sindh budget is nothing but a jugglery of figures.
Addressing a meeting of PDP Steering Committee here, he said that the development funds tagged in budget are devoured by corruption mafia. He said Karachi is badly neglected in the budget of Sindh province. He said pace of work on the lone big project, K4, is very slowly. He asked why last year Rs73 billion were not spent on uplift projects. He asked why loans of Rs33bn are taken when surplus budgetary amounts were available.
He said only 3 percent of budgetary allocations are tagged for capital expenditures, while whole remaining budget would be spent on administrative expenses. He asked where Rs93bn of foreign aid were spent. He said development work in the province is negligible. He said Rs1200 billion would be spent on expenses, which is 70 percent of the total budget.
He said Rs 23 billion for healthcare are not sufficient. He said Rs34 billion for education budget is unnecessary as parents don’t send their children to government schools. This budget is simply embezzled. He said giving subsidy to poor farmers is welcome but what was hurdle in levying tax on feudal lords.
Expressing his dismay over once again neglecting Karachi, he said the megacity providing huge revenue to the national kitty itself is facing huge problems. Despite this city plays the role of backbone in national economy, it has been treated unfairly. Garbage hills, overflowing gutters, broken roads, poor healthcare facilities, lack of electricity, water and gas and numerous other social issues in the city are a slap across the face of government and administration.
Tariq Chandiwala said infrastructure of this center of commercial and economic activities in Pakistan is in the shambles and its basic civic issues stand unresolved, which is a big question mark over the performance of provincial and local governments. He regretted that the federal, provincial and local governments are not ready to take responsibility of the megacity. He said the main hinderance is the PPP leadership that is controlling resources of Sindh including Karachi and looting them with both hands.
He said in every budget Karachi is always badly ignored. The administrative and financial control of KMC, KWSB, KDA and Solid Waste Management Board is in the hands of Sindh government, while bureaucracy has hijacked the whole system and nothing is left for the elected representatives of citizens. The politicians controlling the provincial and local governments instead of resolving issues of public are busy in power struggle. There is no system in place to resolve the problems of the megacity. The Karachiites are always befooled in the name of local government system. If funds are allocated for progress and prosperity of the other parts of the country from the revenue generating by Karachi, why these funds are not allocated for the megacity, he asked.
Tariq Chandiwala said that the pathetic attitude of federal and provincial governments to the city of more than 2.5 Crore population is just sad. Though they get huge revenue from the city but still Karachiites are deprived basic urban facilities. He said that the PPP, MQM, PTI and now PML-N are responsible for deprivation of Karachi.
