CM visits JI’s office: LG law: Sindh govt constitutes committee to suggest amendments

KARACHI: The Sindh Cabinet has decided to implement an agreement between Jamaa- e-Islami (JI) and provincial government to further amend the local government act 2021 in true letter and spirit, and constituted a five-member committee under the leadership of Sindh minister for local government Syed Nasir Hussain Shah in this regard.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presided over a cabinet meeting here at CM House on Wednesday. He told the meeting that the Sindh government would incorporate the suggestions of Jamaat e Islami (JI) and other political parties including PSP in the local bodies’ law, as agreed by Minister Local Government Syed Nasir Shah in his talks with them.

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 for law Murtaza Wahab to discuss the proposals given by the opposition parties and incorporate them into the law and present it in the assembly for approval.

Soon after the cabinet meeting, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah visited Idara Noor-e-Haq, the head office of JI Karachi chapter to take the leadership of JI on board in connection with the implementation of agreement signed between the two sides at the culmination of the 29-day sit-in of JI over the issue of local government empowerment.

The chief minister, talking to the media after the meeting, said that a committee under chair of Nasir Hussain Shah has been constituted for amendments in the law and it will be presenting its output within a couple of weeks.

Talking about intentions of the government in connection with the legislation, he said that several institutions were placed directly under the provincial government to bring betterment in their performance.

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

The cabinet approved an amount of Rs91,5230,000 to provide compensation for the shops of Cooperative Market and Victoria Centre which were reduced to ashes incidents. 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 get ensured their shops because the fire eruption cases have been taking place in markets.

The cabinet directed the chief secretary to implement the decisions of the Supreme Court in respect of KPT Housing Society.

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

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 Prisons 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.

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.

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.

The cabinet approved a request of the Home department to provide an ambulance to Frontier Constabulary (FC).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022