KARACHI: Sindh Cabinet has approved carving out Keamari district from District West, Karachi and directed the Board of Revenue (BoR) to submit a detailed proposal for creation of more districts in the province which have more population or areas.

This the Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said while presiding over a cabinet meeting here at CM House. The meeting was attended by all provincial ministers, advisors, chief secretary Mumtaz Shah and officers concerned.

The cabinet was told that presently district West has seven sub-divisions, Manghopir, SITE, Baldia, Orangi, Mominabad, Harbor and Mauripur, seven circles, nine Tapas and 23 Dehs with a population of 3,914,757 souls. It was observed that the district West was the largest district in the province in terms of population.

The cabinet, after thorough discussion and deliberations, approved creation of Keamari district, out of district West comprising four sub-division, namely SITE, Baldia, Harbour and Maripur with a population of 1,833,864. The Keamari district will have three circles, five Tapas and 11 dehs. The decision has been taken in the larger public interest.

The chief minister said that the names of districts of Karachi have peculiar names such as South, East, West, Central etc. They must have proper names such as Central be named as Nazimabad district, South as Karachi. He also directed the Board of Revenue to suggest the names to rename these districts.

Sindh Chief Minister, on the recommendation of some cabinet members, directed the Board of Revenue to prepare a comprehensive proposal for creation of more districts in the province. He added that the districts which have more population and vast areas should be bifurcated in two districts for the convenience of the local people.

Murad Ali Shah said that Khairpur was the largest district, it must be bifurcated in two districts. "I have heard that it has a constitutional protection, therefore it could not be divided," he said and directed the law department to explore ways and means to create one more from Khairpur.

Administrators: The cabinet was told the term of local councils was being completed on August 29, 2020, as the councils convened their first meeting on August 30, 2016 wherein the mayors, deputy mayors, chairmen and vice chairmen were sworn in.

The chief minister said that Sindh was the only province which allowed local bodies to complete their tenure. "We had allowed the mayor to work from jail but didn't deprive people of the city of their mandate," he said and vowed to conduct elections as soon as possible.

Murad Ali Shah said that the SLGA-2013 would be amended to strengthen local bodies further. Therefore, with the approval of the cabinet, he formed a sub-committee comprising Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Shah, Advisor Works Nisar Khuhro, Advisor Law Murtaza Wahab to furnish their recommendations within a month. Shah directed the committee to consult all the parties/stakeholders while framing the amendments/recommendations.

The cabinet directed the local government department to issue a notification of completion of four years terms of all local councils on August 29, 2020.

The cabinet authorized to appoint administrators in the local councils for their smooth performance and seek post-facto approval from the chief minister.

Bye-election: The chief minister told the cabinet that two provincial assembly seats, Malir and Umerkot, were lying vacant after the deaths of Ali Mardan Shah and Murtaza Baloch. He added that the Election Commission of Pakistan could not conduct elections due to Covid-19 situation. "Now, they have sought the assent of the provincial government to hold the election," he said.

The cabinet discussed and decided to request the ECP to hold free and fair elections in both the constituencies under Covid-19 SOPs.

It was observed that when the SOPs would be implemented, the election process would definitely take time, therefore the election commission of Pakistan was requested to enhance polling time from eight hours to 12 hour or more.

Import of wheat: The chief minister told the cabinet that the wheat consumption in Sindh has been recorded at 5.6 MMT against which 3,8 MMT have been produced during the current crop year that showed a shortfall of 2 MMTs. Earlier, this shortfall was covered through the wheat from Punjab.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020