Murad Ali Shah blames Centre for depriving Sindh of its funds, water resources

KARACHI: Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah on Monday blamed the federal government for depriving the Sindh province of its due funds under last year’s budget and water resources, ARY NEWS reported.

Speaking during a presser along with provincial ministers, CM Sindh Murad Ali Shah said that the province was promised Rs742 billion under the budgetary allocation last year, however, the amount was later revised to Rs680 billion.

“We have currently received Rs598 billion during last 11 months,” he said adding that they would wait and see as to how much amount from the now revised Rs680 billion would be handed over to them.

He said that he was not opposed to any province, nor demanding Punjab province to give their due share of water to them, instead, his demand is from the federal government that is pressurizing IRSA from carrying out a fair distribution of water resources.

“Sindh had to get a share of 8.292 million acre-feet of water, however, we only received 5.385 million acre-feet of it,” Murad Ali Shah said adding that he was not blaming Punjab for water theft rather the blame is on those responsible for water distribution.

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He further shared that the KP province got 38 percent more than its water share while Balochistan received 35 percent more water. “All four provinces should have an equal share in the cut in case of water shortage,” the chief minister said.

He said that it was IRSA’s responsibility to apply fair distribution of water resources among provinces as per the water accord, however, it has emerged that the federal government is exerting pressure on it.

“If the federal government cannot run the affairs as per the constitution, then they should abolish the IRSA,” the chief minister said.