KARACHI: Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah said the federal government has generated 9000 billion rupees tax/non-tax revenues from Karachi in the past three years. In return, he said, the federal government has given peanuts for uplift of Karachi.
In the last three years, on an average, the federal government collected 3000 billion rupees a year tax/non-tax revenues from Karachi, about 70-75 percent of the total national revenues in a year.
Sindh CM also said more than 25,000 people in Karachi have lost their jobs, including 1,650 of Pakistan Steel Mills, but the federal government did nothing for them despite collection massive taxes from the mega city of Pakistan.
Sindh Chief Minister stated this while addressing an open kutchery at the Meerut Housing Society in Ahsanabad, located on the outskirts of Karachi.
“We are not showing our performance through press conferences, making tall claims with pack of lies but our performance is evident from the results of the elections we have been winning one after another with more and more majority and set a record of winning all the by-elections,” Murad Ali Shah said.
He said that some of the federal ministers and representatives of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led federal government were shamelessly asking for the accounts of Rs18 billion given to the provincial government by the centre during the last three years. “But, I am not answerable to them. I am only answerable to the people of the province.”
Chief Minister Sindh said that he was happy if the federal government or any other agency was coming to Sindh to undertake development works.
“We will welcome them, but it doesn’t mean that the federal government has given schemes of roundabout beautification, sewerage schemes of neighbourhoods, water supply schemes of a locality and executing them through their MPAs,” he said.
He said that the federal government had completely failed to show an appropriate growth in the national economy and they missed their tax collection targets.
Talking about revenue collection by his government, Mr Shah said that the provincial tax receipts during 2020-21 were Rs128.52bn, which showed an increase of 28 per cent than the last year. He said this year the collection target had been set at Rs154.94bn. He added that during the same year the collection of sales tax on services was at Rs135bn and non-tax receipts were Rs49.87bn. “If our three-year performance in terms of revenue receipts is calculated, they showed a 14 per cent increase,” he said.
Mr Shah said that in order to develop the mass transit system Rs7.640bn had been allocated in the provincial budget.
“We are procuring 250 diesel hybrid electric buses under the Sindh Intra-District Peoples Buses Services Project for Rs.6.476bn,” he said. He added that the Red Line and Blue Line projects of Rs35bn and Rs28bn, respectively, were being launched within the next few months. Under the Karachi package, 132 schemes had been completed for Rs43.068bn. During open kutchery, many people raised problems of prolonged power outages, encroachments, shortage of water and sewerage issues, police highhandedness, illegal bus and truck stands, etc. Some people requested the CM to order regularisation of their villages.
Sindh CM directed the Karachi commissioner to show zero-tolerance against cases of land-grabbing.
