KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presiding over a cabinet meeting here at CM House on Wednesday said that the points on which Minister Local Government Syed Nasir Shah has agreed with the opposition parties in respect of local government law would be implemented in true letter and spirit.

“We would incorporate the suggestions of the opposition, Jamaat Islami, PSP and other parties in the local bodies law as has been agreed by Minister Local Government Syed Nasir Shah in his talks with them,” he said.

The chief minister constituted a committee under Minister Local Government Syed Nasir Shah, Minister Labour Saeed Ghani, Minister Parliamentary Affairs Mukesh Chawla, Minister irrigation Jam Khan Shoro and Advisor law Murtaza Wahab to discuss the proposal given by the opposition parties and incorporate them into the law and present in the assembly for approval.

The cabinet meeting was attended by all the provincial ministers, Advisors, Special assistants, chief secretary Mumtaz Shah, PSCM Fayaz Jatoi, Chairman P and D Hassan Naqvi and other concerned officers. The cabinet also declared Bundle and Buddo Islands as protected forests.

Wheat: The provincial cabinet approved a procurement target of 1.4 MT of wheat at a support price of Rs2,200 per 40 kg bag for which Rs70 billion were approved. The food department was allowed to purchase bardana to the extent of assigned target at the ratio of 90 percent P.P. Bags and 10 percent jute bags if jute bags are available in the market.

The chief minister directed the food department to set up their [procurement] centers in the last week of February so that procurement could be started right from March 1. “We are offering better support price; therefore its benefit must pass on to the growers,” he said.

Islands declared as protected Forests: The cabinet after thorough discussion and deliberations declared Bundal and Buddo Islands as `Protected Forests’ and directed the Forest department to notify the decision.

Compensation: The cabinet approved an amount of Rs91,5230,000 to provide compensation for the shops of Cooperative Market and Victoria Center which were reduced to ashes in a fire that erupted on November 14, 2021.

The cabinet expressed solidarity with the shopkeepers and said that with the payment of compensation they would be able to start their business afresh. It was proposed to the industries department to talk to the shopkeepers to convince them to ensure their shops because the fire eruption cases have been taking place in markets.

Lands: The cabinet observed that the Pakistan steel mills were planning to dispose of its extra land for which the cabinet said that the Steel Mills authorities were not competent to dispose of their lands. The land which they would surrender as extra land would automatically stand reverted to the Sindh government.

The cabinet directed the Revenue department to issue instructions to sub-registrar not to register any land disposed of/sold by Pakistan steel Mills.

KPT Society: The cabinet also directed the chief secretary to implement the decisions of the supreme court in respect of KPT Housing Society.

Expressway lands: The cabinet also directed SMBR to protect the lands of the Malir Expressway so that no encroacher could dare to grab them.

Recruitment in jail dept: The Home department told the cabinet that 2,113 posts of Grade BS-5 to BS-15, including 1,355 constables were vacant in Prisons. Due to shortage of staff the Prions were facing serious problems.

It was pointed out that the provincial cabinet in its meeting held on November 21, 2019 had approved IBA Sukkur as testing agency for recruitment but IBA Sukkur has shown inability to conduct body measurement and running tests.

The cabinet directed the Home department to hire services of any other testing service through competitive bidding process on the pattern as has been done by the Sindh police.

Institute given on PPP mode: The cabinet was told that the government has constructed Govt Polytechnic Institute Azam Basti in 2017 and now the institute was at the launching stage for which Rs200 million were required, apart from recruitment of teaching staff.

The cabinet approved a proposal to hand over the institute to SZABIST to operate it on PPP mode so that best technical education could be imparted to the students.

Transmission Line: The energy department told the meeting that The Matiari-Lahore High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Transmission Line Project having designed capacity of 4000MW and line length of 878km was one of the most important energy projects in Pakistan and was on priority list of CPEC Projects. The project was started on 1st December 2018 and the Commercial Operations Date (COD) was achieved on 1st September 2021 having a Project Cost of $ 1.6 billion.

A portion of the Transmission Line is passing through the territory of Sindh, therefore the cabinet approved giving it right of way. Ambulance: The cabinet approved a request of the Home department to provide an ambulance to Frontier Constabulary (FC).