Sindh’s chief minister has approved a 72.5-billion-rupee poverty reduction strategy under which the government would make interventions in the education, health, water and sanitation sectors concerning the impoverished parts of the province as well as for the development of internal village roads.
CM Syed Murad Ali Shah made the decision on Tuesday during the meeting of the Sindh cabinet at the new secretariat building. The meeting was attended by all the provincial ministers, advisers and special assistants.
After a two-year survey, the Sindh Planning & Development Department has prepared a poverty reduction strategy with the assistance of the European Union. Under this plan, rural and urban poverty would be reduced by making necessary interventions by upgrading villages.
The villages will be provided with internal roads, water supply and drainage schemes, health facilities and vocational training, while a holistic approach would be taken to improve the quality of education.
The chief executive said the programme would be started all over the province, and rural and urban poverty would be reduced during the next five years. This would be in addition to the poverty reduction programmes and initiatives that have already been launched.
Blood centres
The cabinet was told that with the assistance of the German Development Bank, four state-of-the-art regional blood centres have been set up in Sukkur, Jamshoro, Shaheed Benazirabad and Karachi.
Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho asked to contract out the centres to experienced private organisations. The cabinet approved contracting out the Jamshoro centre to the Indus Hospital, Sukkur’s to the Sukkur Blood & Drug Donating Society, Shaheed Benazirabad’s to the Fatimid Foundation and the Karachi centre to the Ziauddin Hospital.
Public health
Public Health Engineering Secretary Syed Jamal Shah said that in the light of the Supreme Court’s judgment, they have prepared an action plan to transfer all functions relating to water and sewerage schemes to the Sindh Public Health Engineering Department (PHED).
The cabinet approved transferring all the relevant staff of the local government department to the PHED. Under the plan 1,572 schemes would be operated and the staff’s salaries would come to Rs642 million. The cabinet also approved Rs500 million for transactions and placed it at the disposal of Secretary Shah.
New forest positions
With the approval of the CM, Forest & Wildlife Additional Chief Secretary Sohail Akbar Shah presented a restructuring plan of his department. The cabinet approved the proposed restructuring.
Under the plan, two grade-20 posts of chief conservators of forests (CCFs) have been created. The CCF mangroves & rangelands will look after the mangroves ecosystem and the department’s development projects, while the CCF social forestry will look after the department’s social forestry wing. Four grade-19 positions of conservators of forests (CFs) have also been created.
The chief executive told the cabinet that the Sindh government has received an email from the Guinness World Records for establishing a record of planting mangroves on the coastline of the province.
Fake number plates
CM Shah ordered launching a campaign against the use of government registration number plates on private vehicles. Terming it unacceptable, he directed Excise & Taxation Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla to launch a special drive and report to him.
SPPRA rules
The Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (SPPRA) proposed some 30 amendments in their rules. The CM constituted a committee under law adviser Murtaza Wahab to review the amendments and then bring them up in the next cabinet meeting.
Harassment
Women Development Secretary Baqaullah Unar presented a bill for the protection of women against harassment at the workplace to address the issue through legal framework. The cabinet approved the bill and directed the law adviser to go through it and send it to the assembly for approval.
Press briefing
Talking to the media later, adviser Wahab rejected the impression of the Sindh government not cooperating with the joint investigation team (JIT) looking into the money laundering scam, saying that whatever record they ask for is provided to them.
He said they recently sought record of the past decade. “The provincial government has been collecting the record, as it is spread over volumes. As soon as it is collected, it would be handed over to the JIT.”
