–Spokesperson says Rs234bn reduction in funds would hurt Sindh’s development
KARACHI: Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab on Saturday objected to the Centre’s slashing of the province’s National Finance Commission award in the federal budget 2020-21, saying the Rs234 billion reduction would hurt the province’s development.
Wahab, addressing a press conference alongside Sindh Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah, said: “Provinces receive 80 per cent [of their budget] from the federal government […] How will the province develop and how can we pay the salaries of [government employees]?”
Wahab claimed that the Centre “had not” allocated funds for tackling coronavirus and that the government “could only make” a decision of not imposing a lockdown.
“They will blame the provincial chief ministers later on [if they fail to handle the pandemic],” he said, adding: “The federal government does not seem to be helping the provinces in the health sector [….] We got to know that it takes a week for getting tested [for Covid-19] in Islamabad.”
Talking about Hyderabad University, he said that there was not a single rupee allocated for it, while the premier had already inaugurated the varsity.
“No funds were allocated for Tharparkar in the federal budget,” Wahab said, adding that the Centre was not helping the province and that it was attempting to put “obstacles” in its way and “spurring chaos”.
Wahab, speaking about private hospitals overcharging patients, said that the Health Commission would probe the matter and that the Sindh government was “upgrading public hospitals”.
