The Sindh Assembly Tuesday discussed the matters relating to public transport sector, especially in Karachi, and demanded to take stern action against the transporters mafia.
They were talking on a private resolution of Syed Khalid Ahmed of the MQM regarding ensuring safety of passengers.
Khalid Ahmed said the provincial transport department should take stern action against the transporters mafia which was fleecing commuters. The transporters raised bus fares when oil prices were raised but they did not decrease it when the oil prices went down, he said. However, the Sindh transport department did not take any action against them to ensure its writ, he added.
Suhrab Sarki of the PPP supported the resolution and said that a moving junk was running on the roads of Karachi in the name of minibuses. He asked to keep these junk buses off roads. Moin Amir Prizada of the MQM said that the government issued fitness certificates to rickshaws and taxis despite the fact that they even did not have fare meter. He said the fitness certificates to public transport vehicles should be given on merit.
Shamim Mumtaz of the PPP also strongly demanded to take action against the transporters. She regretted that whenever the government took action against the private public transporters, they threatened to go on a strike. Nasir Hussain Shah of the PPP demanded to lower the bus fares immediately. He said the government should ban running the minibuses on CNG.
Khawaja Izharul Hassan of the MQM said in other parts of the world, the public transport was meant to facilitate commuters but in Karachi it was meant to torment the commuters. He said this sector was totally un-audited and the government did not receive any revenue from it nor the people were facilitated.
Dewan Chand Chawila of the MQM said that people were seen sitting on the rooftops of old minibuses. He said it depicted like a human zoo as commuters had to perch on the rooftops of minibuses like birds. He demanded to change the old and dangerous minibuses with some respectable looking public transport vehicles. Later, the house passed the resolution unanimously. The opposition parties also staged a walk out from the House.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) walked out as a protest when the chair rejected Private Resolution 60 given notice by Nusrat Bano Seher Abbasi (PML-F) as Out Of Order.
Nusrat Abbasi’s resolution was about forming a special committee to ascertain the status of the resolution passed by the assembly. She complained that this House had passed dozens of resolutions that still await implementation. She said there should be a house committee to keep updated record of the passed resolution and ensure their timely implementation.
However, the treasury benches said that a motion should be moved for establishing such a committee. Nusrat Abbasi agreed to make such a motion but she was told to submit such a motion to the assembly secretariat. She requested the chair to relax rules and allow her making the motion on Tuesday, as in the past the speaker had relaxed rules to facilitate members several times, but her request was rejected and the chair turned down her private resolution as Out of Order.
On this, the opposition members staged a walkout. However, later they came back after 44 minutes. The Sindh Assembly also passed unanimously a resolution demanding to establish Sukkur Development Authority for the uplift of the city of Sukkur. The resolution was moved by Naheed Begum of the MQM and supported by the government and opposition.
Members, speaking on the resolution, said Sukkur, the third largest city of Sindh province and the second largest business hub, was neglected badly in every government. Its infrastructure was in shambles. It roads and streets were in dilapidated conditions and people faced problems of water supply and drainage disposal. They said the government in the past gave ample funds for the development of this city but they were embezzled by corruption mafia. They said this third largest city of the province still had no university.
They said the Sindh government had formed development authorities for the city that were yet to be erected like Zulfikarabad, but a very important city of the province was neglected in this regard. They stressed the need to establish Sukkur Development Authority for this beautiful city. The House passed the resolution unanimously. The Sindh Assembly Tuesday passed the Institute of Management, Technology Bill, unanimously. The bill was tabled by PPPP lawmaker Tariq Masood Arian (PPPP).
However, another private bill of Syed Khalid Ahmed of MQM, Private Bill No 10/2015 The Sindh Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill 2014, was referred to the standing committee.