KARACHI:Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice President and the leader of opposition in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh said on Monday that the rulers of Sindh were responsible for theft of irrigation water, as water share of tail end growers was being given to influential landlords.
Addressing an important press conference in Sindh Assembly, he said that from 2008 to 2014, Sindh chief minister used his special powers and allowed 8330 direct connections from canal, stealing water share of small farmers to benefit PPP men. He said the tail end growers did not get their water share, as water was illegally given to the henchmen and favourites of Zardari family.
He said Ali Hassan Zardari, Ghulam Qadir Marri, Malik Asad Sikandar, Kamal Chang, Manzoor Wassan and other got water through illegal connections. He said in Sindh, the rulers had created an artificial shortage of water. He said Wadera ministers and advisors in Sindh were involved in water theft.
Sheikh said the rulers had wrecked havoc with old villages of Sindh as water was being given to Karachi as PPP people had hydrants to sell water. He said the K-IV had become a white elephant and the PPP by changing its design had complicated this project.
He said an honest non-political grower in Sindh could not get water for his lands, while blue eyed boys of government had direct connections from canals. Sheikh said the representative of Sindh was present in Irsa and water was distributed on the basis of availability. He said funds for canal lining and embankments went to the pockets of corruption mafia and every year we face floods.
He said: “All provinces are given water as per their share. In cotton season, Sindh was given more water. Bilawal cannot become a Bashir Khan Qureshi or Benazir Bhutto. Bilawal even cannot become a Rasool Bux Palejo. He said in past the PPP was a national level party and today it is a provincial party.”
He said no power plant was being made on CJ Canal. He said previous day, 10 Sindhi men were murdered. He said their buffalos were stolen and it was duty of police to recover them, but the police did not discharge their duties and when these villagers went to find their stolen buffalos, they were killed by bandits.
He said next day seven murders were reported from Shikarpur. He said in four months 63 people were kidnapped and 15 people were still in captivity of kidnappers. He said kidnapping for ransom was on the rise in Sindh. He said today bandits are so powerful that they share their pictures on social media. They have no fear because they give share of the booty to officers and ministers. He said this shares even goes to the chief minister house
He said in Sindh Rs756 billion were spent on law and order. He said in 13 years, Rs7880 were given to Sindh, including Rs1650 billion development funds but nobody knows where they were spent. He said crime is also rising in Karachi. He said in Karachi 48703 cases were reported in 2019, and in 2020 there number rose significantly. Bilal Ghaffar said that due to positive steps of the federal government now our economy is improving in every sector.