Sindh’s chief minister on Thursday brushed aside the impression that he has differences with the inspector general of police (IGP), saying that through a letter, the home department has only pointed out procedural requirements.
“I’ve never developed differences with the provincial police chiefs. It was another government during which six IGPs were changed within six months,” Syed Murad Ali Shah told the media after inaugurating the livestock department’s Sindh Institute of Animal Health Korangi.
Regarding the federal government’s rotation policy of transfer and posting, the CM said there are 16 BS-21 posts of the Centre in Sindh, against which only six officers are working. “These 16 officers have been promoted against their quota in Sindh, but they’ve been posted somewhere else,” he said, adding that under such circumstances, the provincial government has to post officers on own pay scale (OPS).
Shah said all officers allowed to work on OPS have been transferred, but “I can’t promote provincial government officers against BS-21 posts meant for federal government officers”. He urged the Centre to send senior officers to Sindh for the government’s smooth working.
Replying to a question, he said he had held a meeting with the Pakistan Cricket Board to rehabilitate Hyderabad’s Niaz Stadium. “I still believe PSL and international matches should be organised in Hyderabad. We’re working on it,” he said, adding that the proposal’s implementation was delayed due to Covid-19.
Regarding Covid’s third wave, he said he had proposed that the Centre ban inter-city transport to break the spike, and Asad Umer, the minister concerned, had vowed to consider it in the NCOC’s meeting. “I’m not advocating a lockdown, only a ban on inter-city buses. Goods transport will continue as usual.”
Shah said he had also proposed opening vaccination registration for all so that the number of people could be assessed to place procurement orders. “If we don’t know how many people want to get vaccinated, how will we be able to place the orders?”
Livestock contribution
The CM said the agriculture sector’s contribution to the GDP is 19.3 per cent, while livestock contributes 60.6 per cent to agriculture and 11.7 per cent to the GDP. “The agriculture sector, including livestock, is the mainstay of the rural masses, and rural economy can’t be lifted without interventions in livestock, which will ultimately result in developing the allied sectors and direct employment in rural and remote areas.”
He directed the livestock & fisheries department to introduce a project to install refrigeration systems in the storage tanks of the boats fishing in deep sea. “This will help keep the entire catch safe and healthy,” he said, adding that a large stock of the fishermen otherwise goes to waste while returning from their fishing trips.
He said it is evident from the facts that only two industries have survived in a sustainable manner in Pakistan: the technology and agro-based industries. Shah said population growth, increase in per capita income and the potential for export are fuelling the demand of livestock and livestock products, adding that the rise in production costs has increased the retailers’ and consumers’ price index for milk, yoghurt, meat, fish, eggs and other items.
He said that after the 18th amendment, it is now the prime duty of the provinces to ensure food security and quality food production, adding that the livestock sector requires special initiatives to bring food security in the province and make sure public health is safeguarded.
“It’s assumed that over 70 per cent of human infections have been contracted from animals, and about 60 per cent emerging infectious diseases are transmitted from animals to humans.”
The CM said the world is, therefore, working on the One Health concept, which means that the health of humans is dependent on the health of plants and animals. He said vaccine production, timely diagnosis of diseases and controlling zoonotic diseases is of prime importance in this sense. “The Sindh Institute of Animal Health Karachi, which was established in 2018, is involved in carrying out such tasks.”
He lamented that despite Pakistan having the third-largest livestock population in the world, the country is still deficient in milk and meat, and has to import large quantities of dry milk powder. He called for investing in the sector for food security and poverty alleviation.
Shah said there is a big opportunity for Pakistan, especially access to the halal market with huge export potential, but the prevalent foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has resulted in bans on the export of meat and milk to most of the developed countries. “Therefore, there’s a need to control FMD through vaccination by setting up an FMD vaccine manufacturing plant in Sindh.”