Daily Times

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday said that the federal government had failed to improve any sector of the country, especially the economy, after coming into power.

Concluding the budget debate in the Sindh Assembly, the chief minister said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had failed to control the rise in the value of dollar. “One dollar was equal to Rs 121 when the government came into power. Now, the dollar-rupee exchange rate is at Rs 157. The rupee has hit a historic low against the dollar during the PTI government’s tenure,” Shah said.

He said that the federal government had tried taking over three of Sindh’s hospitals. “However, no funds have been allocated for these hospitals in the recently announced budget,” he said.

Shah further stated that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth had seen no visible change compared to the past years.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had called a meeting on the K-4 programme, which was yet to take place.

He said that the amount recovered by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in plea bargains and volunteer returns from other provinces was much higher than the amount recovered from Sindh. “Despite this, Sindh is being branded as the most corrupt province in the country. This is quite deplorable,” he said.

“I don’t mind if I am criticised, but I will never allow them to criticise Sindh. Sindh is the land of love, fraternity and peace,” he said.

The CM said that he was 121st member of the assembly who had participated in the debate on budget. “Out of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) 99 members, 62 participated in the budget debate. Most of the PTI’s 30 members also participated in the debate. This shows that the opposition has been given ample time to discuss the budget. However, they still complain that they are not being allowed to speak,” he said.

He said that in Punjab Assembly only 26 percent members were allowed to participate in the budget discussion. “This is an ample proof our democratic approach to accommodate the opposition in the debate,” he said.

Shah said that the federal government had informed Sindh government in the beginning of their tenure that Sindh would be given Rs 665 billion. “In June, the federal government said that Sindh would be provided Rs 632 billion. Now, the federal government is saying that it will only give Rs 492 billion to Sindh,” he said.

“This shows a shortfall of Rs 173 billion if the actual figure of Rs 665 billion is taken into account,” he said, and added the federal government still owed Rs 126 billion to Sindh. He disclosed that the overall collection of the federal government was around Rs 4.15 trillion.

“The federal government has said that in the next financial year, they will give Rs 200 billion more to Sindh than the current financial year. However, this does not seem possible now. I hope the federal government achieves its recovery targets,” he said.

He said that the federal government during the financial year of 2017-18 had collected Rs 3.27 trillion. “This year it has collected Rs 3.31 trillion. This shows only 1.2 percent increase. Sindh has shown an increase of over six percent in its revenue collection,” he said.

Murad Ali Shah said that Punjab had spent Rs 126 billion of its Rs 238 billion ADP. “Sindh has utilised Rs 110 billion against the releases of Rs 130 billion. The size of the new ADP is around Rs 223 billion,” he said.

The chief minister said that he wanted to give a raise of 25 in the salaries of the government employees. “However, we could only offer 15 percent raise to our employee due to financial crunch. This amounts to a total of Rs 26 billion. We have enhanced the operative expenditures budget from Rs 102 billion to Rs 106 billion,” he said.