KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presided over an hours long meeting of the provincial cabinet on Tuesday. The meeting discussed and took decisions on around two dozen agenda items, including taking up the census issue in parliament and procurement of 250 diesel-electric hybrid buses for an intra-district operation.
They also decided to devolve the Solid Waste Management Board to divisional level, withdraw the condition of presenting Form VII to sell wheat to the food department, and file an appeal against the high court’s decision declaring regularisation of law and other officers of grades BS-16 and 17 illegal. The meeting started at 10am and concluded at 5pm. It was attended by provincial ministers, advisers, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Ali Shah and the other relevant secretaries.
The CM told the cabinet that he had attended the Council of Common Interests (CCI) meeting in which the 2017 census was approved despite his dissenting vote. He said he had told the prime minister that all the four provinces had serious reservations over the census results, so it should be conducted again.
“Since its inception, the CCI has been taking decisions with consensus, but this was the first decision that was taken with a dissenting vote,” he said, adding that in such a situation, he had to take up the matter in parliament. The cabinet approved the CM’s decision.
Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah said his department has planned to purchase 250 diesel-electric hybrid buses under the Sindh Intra-District People Bus Service project. He said these buses will operate in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Mirpurkhas and Shaheed Benazirabad.
He also said his department has hired a professional consultant, adding that the project will cost Rs8 billion. The cabinet approved the proposal and gave go-ahead to procure the buses. The CM said he will provide the necessary funds, terming the project a good news for the people of the six districts.
Local Government Minister Nasir Shah presented a draft of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Act 2021, which envisages creating a solid waste management board in each divisional headquarter of the province, with each board being headed by the commissioner concerned and the mayor as its member. Food Minister Hari Ram and Secretary Haleem Shaikh said they had started wheat procurement on April 1. The minister said over 60 per cent of the crop has been harvested in the lower Sindh districts, but 6,333.85 MT has so far been procured.
He said the policy guidelines for wheat procurement were causing delays, so he proposed waiving off the condition of producing agriculture pass book (Form VII).