Murad wants CCI to take up all pending issues of Sindh

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presiding over pre-39th Council of Common Interest (CCI) meeting on Thursday directed the Sindh Chief Secretary to write a letter to the CCI secretariat for including all the pending issues of Sindh province on the agenda of forthcoming CCI meeting.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Excise & Taxation Mukesh Kumwar Chawla, Minister for Energy Imtiaz Shaikh, Chief Secretary Major (Retd.) Azam Suleman, Principal secretary Sohail Rajput, provincial secretaries, Energy, Irrigation, U&B and other concerned officers, said a statement on Thursday.

The CM Sindh said that various issues of the provincial government were pending in the CCI.

They were amendments in petroleum exploration & production policy 2012, unconstitutional and unauthorized deduction by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) from the provincial consolidated fund (PCF), allocation of 1200 cusecs additional water for Karachi city (K-IV) project.

Implementation of Article 154 of the Constitution, matters pertaining to higher education and other similar bodies in post-eighteenth amendment scenario, to further enhance the representation of provinces in the federal HEC and import of LNG gas.

The CM Sindh said that still he has not received the agenda of the CCI meeting scheduled to be held on September 12.

Therefore, he directed the chief secretary to send a written request to the CCI secretariat to include all the pending issues of the provincial government on the agenda of the CCI meeting.

Most of the issues are important and need urgent attention to resolve them in the supreme interest of people of Sindh, he said.

Syed Murad Ali Shah said that Karachi was facing water shortage and Karachi is mini-Pakistan because people from all over the country live here.

The current domestic consumption which currently stands at 12.75 gallon per capita per day is anticipated to drop further in the next coming years mainly attributable to city's high population growth, he said and added that keeping in view the present demand and future strategy KWSB has worked out additional demand of 1200 cusecs to 2400 cusecs.

He further said that the Irrigation department approached Indus River System Authority (IRSA) twice to allocate 1200 cusecs additional drinking water for Karachi in addition to the provision of water accord 1991.

Sindh Secretary Irrigation Jamal Shah told the CM Sindh that IRSA has replied on request that any additional requirement of water supply to Karachi has to be met by Sindh out of its existing allocated share as no water outside the accord is available for further distribution.

On this, the chief minister said that prior to water accord 1991, 1200 cusecs of water was sanctioned for Karachi on August 10, 1988 by the then President.

This 1200 cusecs water has been included in allocation for Sindh province mentioned at Para-2 of water Accord 1991, but additional requirement of 1200 cusecs water for the city has not been included in the share of the province, he said.

The matter of deduction by FBR from PCF also extensively came under discussion.

The CM Sindh directed his team to prepare case for each and every pending issue so that he could take up them effectively in the CCI meeting.