KARACHI - Sindh Minister for Information, Local Government, Housing &Town Planning, Religious Affairs, Forest and Wildlife Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has said that Sindh province had been neglected in the development budget of the federal government.

In a statement on Monday, he said that from looking at the projects that had been earmarked for other provinces and those that had been earmarked for Sindh, in the development budget of the federal government, it became clear that how the Sindh province had been neglected, adding that, sadly that no federal minister talked about it, or commented on it.

The provincial information minister said that responsibility of the federal government seemed to be limited to criticism only, while in contrast, the Sindh government believed in serving the people.

Nasir Shah said that the media should ask the representatives of the federal government why Sindh province had been ignored in the federal development budget, and why they did not talk about important issues of Sindh. While strongly condemning the K-Electric, he said that the way K-Electric had started unannounced load shedding in the metropolis it had made people’s lives miserable.

The provincial minister demanded that K-Electric should immediately end this unannounced load shedding. He also slammed the Hyderabad Electric Supply Corporation and Sukkur Electric Supply Corporation and demanded that both the power utilities should immediately end unannounced load shedding, as it was causing immense distress to the people. The senior provincial minister said, “How can we convince people not to go out of their houses unnecessarily during the time of coronavirus pandemic when there is no electricity at home?”

Shah said the K-Electric had assured the Sindh government that it would not carry out load shedding during the lockdown, but after numerous complaints of recent unannounced load shedding, Sindh chief minister would talk to the K-Electric again. The provincial information minister said that whenever the Sindh government made any suggestion regarding K-Electric, the federal government immediately started saying that the Sindh government had no authority in this regard.

He said that on the special directives of Chairman Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had given priority to the health sector over all other sectors in the budget for the next financial year. He said that most of the new schemes announced for the next financial year were related to the health sector. He said that the Sindh government was constantly striving to improve the health sector in the province. “Following Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, I also invites all people to come to Sindh and visit various centers of NICVD, SIUT, besides look for themselves how cancer patients were being treated by using advanced technology of cyber knife at SIUT, and liver transplant was being done at Gambit Institute of Medical Sciences,” he added. The senior provincial minister said that those who were criticising the Sindh government should first come and inspect these health facilities by themselves and then comment. He added that, criticism for the sake of criticism was just a waste of time and energy.

Nasir Shah said the difference between Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital and Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation was that, in Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital the patient still had to deposit some money while at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation, the patient did not have to pay a single penny for his treatment. The provincial information minister said that some federal ministers were completely ignorant of the reality, but yet they come on TV and constantly criticise the Sindh government without any reason. He also asked the media to refrain from showing again and again the opinions that contain a lot of lies.

Nasir Shah said the attitude of the PTI people is that they try to prove a lie by repeating it again and again. He said that it was surprising that these people did not feel any discomfort in lying. He said that all the things on which the people of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf used to criticize other political parties had now been adopted by them.

 The senior provincial minister said that denying their claims or reneging on their promises was not a big deal for the people of PTI.

The provincial minister said that this was the same PTI and his Prime Minister Imran Khan who never tired of praising the 18th Amendment and the NFC Award, but today when they were in the federal government they had starting to feel bad about the both. He said that the Sindh government had been very serious about preventing the spread of coronavirus from day one, and from the very beginning the Sindh government was of the view that there was no other way but an effective lockdown that could only prevent the spread of the virus, adding that, no one took the suggestions of the Sindh government seriously. “If the federal government had taken it seriously, we would have almost got rid of the corona virus pandemic today,” he said.

 Meanwhile, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah expressed deep sorrow and grief over the demise of renowned religious scholar and Zakir Allama Talib Johri. In his condolence message, the provincial Information Minister said that the scholarly and religious services of Allama Talib Johri would always be remembered. He said that a chapter of knowledge ended with the demise of Allama Talib Johri. The senior Provincial Minister prayed to Allah Almighty to give Allama a valued place in His mercy and to give his family the courage and strength to bear this irreparable loss.

In his other condolence messages, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah also expressed deep sorrow and grief over the demise of Muhammad Aslam Jinnah who was the grandson of the Founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and on the demise of renowned educationist Nisar Ahmed Siddiqui. The Provincial Minister for Information prayed to Allah Almighty to grant high ranks to the deceased in Jinnah and to give courage and strength to the families of the deceased’s to bear the great loss.