KARACHI : Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari hopes that Prime Minister Imran Khan will come to the province with rehabilitation and reconstruction plans as well as hundreds of billions of rupees in his purse. Addressing a press conference here on Friday, the PPP chairman said, “We are looking forward to packages that the PM will announce to provide relief to the people of the province.” He said that the Sindh chief minister has put forward a Rs800 billion plan for Karachi. “If the amount we demand is allocated, we are sure that the most issues of the city can be resolved. We need massive support from the federation to pull the city out of these catastrophic situations,” said Bilawal.
The PPP chairman appreciated the federal government for showing seriousness as regards to investing in Karachi for its infrastructure and development. “All the crops and businesses in the province have been destroyed due to the devastated situation caused by the monsoon downpour,” he added. He said even Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa said that no one can face such calamity. Bilawal said that funds from the federal government are the right of the people of Sindh. “Those who taunt us by saying that we will not give Sindh its due share of funds, should know that these are funds that belong to the people of Sindh.”
He said that recent spells of rains have added to the sufferings of the people of Sindh after facing the coronavirus pandemic and locust attacks. He said that the Sindh chief minister and his entire team are working endlessly to provide relief to the people of the province. He said that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has provided Sindh with some financial support but emphasised that the province’s requirement is far more than the allocated amount. “We are looking forward to our disaster management authority for more funds to reinstate the city,” said Bilawal. He said that not much attention was given to the infrastructural issues of the city in the past.
The PPP chairman asked the government to immediately address the issue of power outages and the recent price hike in electricity tariffs. “Recently, I have heard about the hike in power prices. I am speechless how they made such a decision especially in these times when the institution has failed to deliver,” said Bilawal. He appealed to the federal government to retract the decision.
He said that appointment of administrators in Sindh is the constitutional right of Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and his government. Bilawal also thanked Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif for his visit to Karachi. He expressed happiness at the Rahbar Committee’s decision to allow the PPP to host the All Parties Conference (APC), adding that the platform will be a good one to discuss all issues of the country and to ensure all opposition parties are on the same page.
