KARACHI    -   Pakistan People’s Party lawmakers of the Sindh Assembly demanded the Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed to step down in the wake of Tezgam train tragedy.

Speaking on a point of order during the Sindh Assembly session on Friday, Zulfikar Shah of the PPP said that the incident occurred due to negligence of the department as the fire erupted in the train owing to a short circuit. “The Prime Minister Imran Khan before taking charge of incumbent office used to demand resignation of concerned ministers in case of any mishap. Now he should take resignation from his Railways Minister,” Zulfikar said while he was seconded all other PPP members who thumbed the desk.

He said that most of the affectees belonged to his district, Mirpurkhas. He also took a jibe at the Opposition Leader Firdaus Shamim Naqvi for holding the ‘passengers responsible’ for the incident. “Opposition leader claimed that the fire erupted due to a gas cylinder blast even without any inquiry. His remarks are tantamount to disrespect those who died in the tragedy,” he added.

Zulfikar also demanded of his provincial government to compensate the affected families ‘as the compensation announced by the federal government was too low’.

Separately, the chair ruled an adjournment motion regarding ‘large number of absconders in Sindh’ moved by the Paksitan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA Khurram Sher Zaman out of order after the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Mukesh Kumar Chawla opposed the same.

Sher Zaman said that there were 57,000 absconders in the province out of which 45,000 belonged to Larkana only. “I don’t know why the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs has mercy for these absconders,” he added.

Chawla in his reply termed the motion as hypothetical and requested the chair to turn it down. Deputy Speaker Rehana Leghari, who was chairing the house, ruled the motion out of order.

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government Saleem Baloch said Massan Road, Keemari will be reconstructed soon as the Sindh government had already taken up the matter. He was responding to the call attention notice moved by Shahnawaz Jadoon of the PTI. “Will the Honourable Minister for Local Government, Sindh may please to give answer/statement that in my Constituency PS-113, Keemari the Massan Road is in very much deplorable condition, this is purely public matter, what action has taken by the Government in this regard?,” the PTI lawmaker asked.

Legislation

Meanwhile, three bills were also introduced in the house and were forwarded to concerned standing committees for further deliberations. They included Sindh Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2019; The Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019; and The Sindh Charities Registration and Regulation Bill, 2019.