Providing information not sufficient

Providing information not sufficient

Kawish

The Sindh Assembly passed a budget of Rs2.47tr for the province. The house also approved 59 schemes presented by the chief minister and rejected 552 proposals from the opposition. Besides the passing of the budget, the information provided by the irrigation minister is of equal importance. He declared that Sindh is braving 46 per cent shortage of water, and the sea has eroded 609,000 acres of land. The opposition refuted the demands of the government and insisted that the expenses of the Sindh Chief Minister House and other amounts allocated for gifts and entertainment purposes should be curtailed and used instead for the benefit of the poor.

It is strange that the opposition was talking about the manifesto of the ruling party. It is also interesting to note that the opposition — whichever party it may be — acquires the ability to empathise with the poor only when in opposition. Their concern vanishes when in power. This is not only true for those in the opposition today but for those who have been there in the past and will be in the future. Can one have a pro-poor bias only while in the opposition? Is it mandatory that those in opposition should oppose every action of the government, rejecting all their proposals? It should be noted that there is a common factor between the opposition and treasury members — they have all been elected by the people to resolve their problems. We need to deal with the innate hostilities between the two or else the government will not be able to perform and neither will the opposition be able to play an effective role.

Another important aspect of the budget session was the information provided by the Sindh irrigation minister. Needless to say, sea erosion and shortage of water are interconnected problems. The sea eroded fertile lands of Sindh because the required amount of water was not released downstream Kotri. Sea activity has amplified over the decades and is affecting the ecosystem, making agricultural lands barren, contaminating aquifers and causing degradation of land. It is regrettable that a huge area of fertile land has been eroded by sea water, but what is unfortunate is that no effective strategy has been evolved to check this erosion. No measures have been taken to ensure that this does not happen in the future.

We are grateful to the Sindh irrigation minister for providing this ‘valuable’ piece of information. However, the provision of information will not suffice and the government’s inaction is deplorable. The government should devise strategies and take effective measures and obtain water for downstream Kotri, which is the only guarantee to limit sea water erosion. Successive governments were also providing information; this government should however behave in a different manner. If the incumbent minister keeps giving updates, there will be no difference between him and his predecessors. — (June 29)

— Selected and translated by Sohail Sangi