KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is planning to hold a sit-in outside Chief Minister (CM) House in Karachi to protest against the recent amendments in the Sindh Local Bodies Act 2013.
According to sources having knowledge of the plan, the PTI has consulted Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) over staging a sit-in outside the CM House.
“The consultations were held at the Governor House,” they said adding that a final decision regarding the sit-in would be taken after taking Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), a coalition partner in the federal government, into confidence over the matter.
The Sindh Assembly had passed the amendment bill for a new local government (LG) system with a majority amid the strong protest from the opposition.
Opposition parties including Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) have strongly criticized the new law.
The assembly also passed the bill for giving powers to the mayor to head Solid Waste Management Board. It is important to mention here that Sindh Governor Imran Ismail had rejected the local bodies bill after raising objections.
During his speech, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that he asked the opposition to read the bill related to the new LG system once. He added that the government will welcome those who are willing to bring amendments to the bill.
Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Sheikh has said that artificial shortage of fertilizer was created in Sindh despite of higher than demand supply.
In a statement issued here on Wednesday, he accused Sindh government of conniving with hoarding mafia and demanded immediate action by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to save the agriculture sector and farmers from heavy losses.
Haleem Adil said that urea supply in Sindh was 52% higher than demand in current year and there should not be any shortage of the fertilizer in the province. “It is obvious that mafia is hoarding the commodity in demand for profit making and black marketing of urea continues with the connivance of Sindh government,” he asserted.
The artificial shortage of fertilizer would negatively impact the production of staple food grain wheat and other winter crops including oilseeds and sugar cane and it certainly would result in price hike of essential food items, he maintained.
The opposition leader said that the Sindh government did not take any action against the hoarding and black marketing of urea fertilizer in the province because the provincial government wanted to damage wheat, mustard, sugarcane and other crops by creating artificial shortage of fertilizers. PPP Sindh government was responsible for every crisis in Sindh, he added.
He said that the alarming situation of non-availability of important agricultural input demanded swift action by FIA to recover hoarded fertilizer from private warehouses for ensuring its availability to growers and farmers of the province.
Haleem Adil also demanded that federal government should ensure distribution of fertilizer in Sindh through FIA as well.