Daily Times

KARACHI: The newly elected Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah who was sworn in yesterday conducted two separate high level meetings on Sunday regarding maintenance of law and order and water shortage in the province.

CM Murad Ali Shah conducted the first meeting at CM House on Sunday morning. He directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to launch a crackdown against street criminals, “Street crime should not only be controlled but eliminated,” he told the meeting.

The new CM said that in his speech on the floor of the Sindh Assembly, he had spelt out that maintenance of law and order would be his top priority, “This is why I’m holding this meeting on Sunday, “he told the officials in attendance. He said that street crime was undoing all the government efforts he had taken to restore law and order in the metropolis and therefore decisive action was required to eliminate this ‘social evil’.

The IGP told CM Murad Ali Shah that a targeted operation was in progress and it would definitely produce good results. At this, the CM said that the targeted operation must be made focused and disciplined. He further directed the IGP to delegate the task of responsibly controlling street crime to SHOs.

Karachi Additional IG Karachi Dr Ameer Shaikh told the CM that there was a drug mafia involved in street crime. He said that other mafias including the beggar mafia were also promoting criminal activities. On this, the CM directed the IGP to launch an operation against drug mafia, including the peddlers and addicts. “Necessary measures should be taken to send addicts to rehabilitation centres or welfare organizations after Eid,” directed the CM. CM Murad further said that he did not want to see beggars at roundabouts in the metropolis. “There should be an operation against them,” he directed.

During the meeting, the IGP informed the CM that there were police ranges in Sindh with strength of 123,983 policemen. He told the CM that there were 30 police districts and 623 police stations all over the province. At this, the CM said that if the population of the province was divided with the total strength of the police there was a ratio of 1 policeman for 410 people. “That is not bad ratio but we have to make the police more responsive, hardworking and dedicated through capacity building so they can effectively control crime,”

The IGP then told the CM that 10,269 policemen were receiving different trainings in the province. He said that 8300 policemen were on in-service courses, 1237 policemen were receiving training at army training centers, 432 policemen were being trained by Pakistan Army and 300 policemen were pursuing specialized commando courses. He said that the capacity building process which was launched by the CM during his last tenure was in progress.

While briefing the CM regarding the general law and order situation, the IGP told the CM that 621 miscreants were being watched and there was strict vigilance on 761 persons included in the 4th Schedule. He said that the campaign to arrest all proclaimed offenders was in progress and the police station record was also being updated.

Talking about the challenges, IGP Amjad Javed Saleemi said that terrorism, kidnapping for ransom and extortion, security of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects and capacity issues of investigators were some of the hurdles the police faced initially but the police managed to face them with proper strategy and resources.

He also said that from 2018 till this date, 622 encounters had been conducted and in these encounters, 1122 criminals had been caught red-handed. “Some 8128 criminals have been arrested while busting 396 gangs. In the encounters, 73 criminals were neutralized and two LMG, eight G-3, 145 SMGS and 5204 pistols were recovered,” Saleemi told the CM.

The chief minister directed the IGP to ensure proper maintenance of law and order during the Eid days. “After Eid, a comprehensive plan would be worked out to make this city free of street crime and a similar policy would be launched in other districts of the province where law and order situation is fragile,” said Shah.

Later on Sunday, CM Murad Ali Shah presided over another meeting with Irrigation Department officials in which he expressed serious reservations over the water shortage in Sindh during Kharif season. The CM directed Irrigation Department to submit a detailed report on the losses incurred by a delay in the sowing of paddy crop due to water shortage.

During this meeting on water shortage, the chief minister said that sowing of paddy crop in Sindh started by second week of May but this year due to acute water shortage the cultivators became very late in sowing their crops. He added that those who had started cultivation in time suffered huge loss as their lands seedlings could not receive water. “The water shortage which was initially estimated at 40 percent shot up to 60 percent,” said Shah before directing the Irrigation Secretary to present him with a detailed report covering the loss caused to the paddy crop.

Irrigation Secretary Jamal Shah told the CM that water position had started improving from July 15 onwards. Giving current water position to the chief minister, he said that on Sunday (yesterday) 248175 cusecs had been recorded at Guddu upstream while downstream 220266 cusecs had been recorded. He said that upstream water position at Sukkur was 198770 cusecs while downstream water position was 220266 cusecs. He said that Kotri had 51840 cusecs upstream and 10080 cusecs downstream.

On this, the CM remarked that the water position was considering better now. He directed the irrigation secretary to ensure proper release of water in the irrigation system of Larkana, Dadu, Badin and Thatta. He also directed him to ensure provision of water to the tail-enders. “When water position is better why are growers crying for water? he asked before saying that there was a dire need to manage water properly.

Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department Secretary Saeed Mangnijo also briefed the CM during the meeting. He said that there were 220 ongoing water and sewerage development schemes in the province and 66 of them had been completed while 26 others were at an advanced stage and would be completed by September 2018.

Talking about 547 non-functional water supply and drainage schemes in phase-I, he said that rehabilitation work had been started on these schemes on the directives of the CM during his first tenure. Mangnijo said that 62 schemes had been rehabilitated and put in operation while work on 18 others was nearing completion. He added that the tendering process for 391 schemes had also been completed and contracts would be awarded shortly. The chief minister was informed that the tendering process for establishment 17 water testing laboratories had been completed. The chief minister directed the secretary to award the contracts by the end of this month.

The Sindh CM, during his previous tenure, had decided to convert water supply and reverse osmosis (RO) plants scheme to solar energy because they were either dysfunctional or working partially. In the third phase, 700 new of water supply schemes were being constructed on solar system.

The chief minister directed the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) to ensure proper supply of water to the residents of Karachi during Eid days. “I know the issues of power outages but make sure that there is no complaint on Eid,” said the CM. The chief minister said that after Eid he would review the K-IV project in detail

This meeting was attended by Irrigation Secretary Jamal Shah, Local Government Secretary Khalid Hyder Shah, Public Health Engineering Department Secretary Saeed Mangnijo, PD K-IV Asad Zamin and officials from KWSB.

Published in Daily Times, August 20^th 2018.