- With MQM terming Sindh budget ‘unfriendly’, province observes partial shutter down strike
- Sindh finance minister asks for ‘exact points’ that need improvement in budget
While the Sindh government remained “oblivious” of the reason behind MQM’s partial strike on Sunday, Karachi remained closed for half the day with businesses coming to a standstill.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) half-day strike against Sindh budget ended in the province on Sunday. Shops and petrol pumps opened after midday whereas traffic flow also increased on the roads.
Most of the trading centres, shops, petrol pumps were closed and there was little traffic on the roads. Hotels and bakeries which open early morning were also shut down.
Rabita committee appealed the public, transporters, shop keepers, trader community and industrialists to restore activities at 1 pm after recording the protest.
MQM has termed the budget as ‘unfriendly to Sindh’ and called for province-wide call for shutter down including Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Tandu Adam, Mirpur Khas and various other cities.
Meanwhile, MQM supremo Altaf Hussain expressed gratitude over supporting MQM peaceful strike to record protest against Sindh Budget 2015-16 by observing peaceful strike in Sindh.
The MQM Rabita Committee’s meeting, while terming the budget as ‘hateful, biased and anti-urban Sindh’, called for a shutter-down strike on Sunday. The committee labelled the peaceful strike as an indicator of rejection of the budget by citizens of Sindh
WHY STRIKE?
In the meanwhile, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon termed the call of MQM for shutter-down strike as “deplorable”.
In a statement, the minister said the budget unveiled by provincial government is ‘people-friendly’ and not ‘anti-people’. He added that he was surprised over MQM’s reaction to the budget. “The party gave protest call without even going over the budget,” he said.
Moreover, addressing a post-budget press conference at the Chief Minister’s House on Sunday, Sindh Finance Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah expressed “oblivion” over the reasons behind MQM’s call for strike against the Sindh budget.
“If informed about what are the exact points that need improvement, we will try and satisfy those criticising the budget,” he said.
The minister said the provincial government was committed to providing maximum possible facilities to the masses to enhance living standards and welfare. He further added that Rs 49 billion have been allocated for development of Karachi in the new budget but unfortunately MQM resorted to strike without going through the budget documents.
During the press conference, Shah said there was a potential to double provincial tax revenue in the next three years. Yet, in what appears to be a paradox, he also said the provincial budget for 2015-16 had reduced tax rates.
Listing some salient features of the Sindh budget, the finance minister said a sum of about Rs 50 billion had been allocated for development schemes in Karachi alone.
“The Sindh government has allocated Rs2.5bn for the K-IV scheme in Karachi. The federal government has also promised a matching sum for this scheme.”
Shah said there was a Ramzan package provision in the provincial budget, which would facilitate 1.7 million families each of which would receive a sum of Rs. 1,000 before Eid.
Responding to a question, he said agriculture income tax was being invoked in the province. “There is an ordinance for that [agriculture tax] as well and some changes would be brought to that ordinance.”
He said a major portion of the budget receipt for the province came from the federal government, adding that the Centre had promised Rs421.3bn from the federal divisible pool. Shah said Sindh will get Rs 48 billion less than the estimates in the federal budget.
