The debate before the budget in the Sindh assembly was completed on Friday. Parliamentarians who belong to various parties as well as ministers, cabinet members and opposition leader gave their proposals for the next financial year budget with a special focus on problems facing the province.

The head of the opposition, Ali Khursheedi, said the budget should be made in consultation with the members. He expressed concern about the water supply to Karachi and said that Sindh Water almost ends up when it reaches Metropolitan City.

Government members should realize that the water is a big question about Karachi, like the rest of Sindh. “People tend to forget Karachi when they speak against the channel project on the Indus River, are we not part of Sindh?” he said.

He pointed out that the government did not include new schemes in the budget last year, while funds were also not spent on existing schemes. The cost of the schemes from Kashmore, Tharparkar, Khairpur, Shaheed Benazirabad and Hyderabad remained zero as the funds were not released.

Khursheedi said the Minister of Chief had assured that the schemes would be completed, but this did not happen. Government members are helpless, while officers affiliated with MQM are removed from their positions by the political mayor after the local organ election.

He said that transparency should be maintained in the budget for water supply schemes and the public should be told where the funds were used.

He criticized PPP and said that only 400 buses were brought across Sindh against the need for 15,000.

Ptis Muhammad Shabbir Qureshi said his constituency is the highest income -creating constituency, but still it has been deprived of all basic facilities. Sewage water enters the houses and mosques, and the whole area is blocked during the rain, he complained.

Jamaat-e-Islami member Muhammad Farooq said the health sector should be exempt from tax. Instead, large leaders need to be brought into the taxi. FBR’s tyranny was to end.

He also demanded a development package of RS500 billion for Karachi and emphasized at the early end of all the city’s incomplete projects.