The Sindh cabinet in its meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah took some historic decisions such as fixing transgenders’ job quota in all provincial government departments, approved establishment of physical & rehabilitation centre – the first ever in civilian setup, fixed BRT fare structure and approved price of wheat for crop 2019-20. The meeting was held at New Sindh Secretariat and attended by Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, provincial ministers, advisors, IG Sindh Dr Kaleem Imam, AIG Karachi Ghulam Nabi Memon and secretaries of the departments. The cabinet through a resolution urged the prime minister of Pakistan to convene Council of Common Interests (CCI) meeting to discuss outstanding issued of the provincial government. Under the constitution, the CCI meeting has to be held after every 90 days but since the last 11 months, no such meeting has been called. The energy minister told the cabinet that the federal government was reluctant to approve alternate energy projects of the Sindh. He added that a tendency of creating problems under one or the other pretext had been noted. The chief minister said that he would take up those issues when CCI meeting was called, Law and order: IG Police Dr Kaleem Imam and AIG Karachi briefed the cabinet on law and order, particularly the street crime in the city. The cabinet was told that no terrorism incident had taken place in the city during current financial year with 97 percent reduction in target killing as compared to 2013. The 76 percent reduction in extortion as compared to 2013 has been recorded. In Crime Index (CI), Karachi was placed at number 6th in 2014 means it was declared as 6th most unsafe city in the world. The government with its political will and hard work of law enforcement agencies started targeted operation and the situation started improving. Later on, the CI placed Karachi at number 10 in 2016, at 26 in 2016, at 47 in 2017, at 61 in 2018 and now with the grace of God Karachi has been placed at serial number 70. The major cities of the world with higher crime index are Johannesburg at 7th position, Cape Town at number 22, Dhaka 38, and Chicago 42. It means the city of Karachi was much better than various well-known cities of the developed world, the chief minister said. In 2013, eight murders were committed in a day which have been reduced to 1.2 per day in 2019. Street Crime: The cabinet was told that a commendable reduction has been recorded in four and two-wheeler and mobile snatching compared to 2013. The 78 percent decrease in four-wheel snatching, 73 percent in two-wheelers and 29 percent in mobile phone snatching have been recorded as compared to 2013, 2013 and 2015, respectively. To a question, the chief minister was told that 317 street criminals’ gangs had been busted and 621 arrested with registration of 690 FIRs. The 440 proclaimed offenders and 3530 absconders have also been arrested during 2019. Talking about factors hampering police performance, the IGP police said that non-registration of cases was top on the list. He told the cabinet that 1063 complainants were approached by police in three weeks but hardly 14 of them agreed to get their cases registered. The other factors as stated by the IG police were liberal bail policy, lack of Central Data Base of Criminals, hideouts of criminals in 162 slum areas of the city and lack of safe city projects. Narcotics: The cabinet was told that in 2018, only 0.73 points of Ice drug were recovered while in 2019, its recovery has been recorded at 132.756 points. At this, the chief minister said that the difference of 132.24 points was huge. “This show either the drug peddlers have pumped ice drug in the city in a huge quantity this year or it was allowed unchecked in the city last year,” Shah said and added it was unacceptable and the police must clean the city of drug peddlers and smugglers. “We can’t leave our children at the mercy of drug peddlers,” he said. In 2018, 219.837 kg heroin was recovered while in 2019, its seizure reached 1107.403 kg. In 2018, over 436602 gutka/mawa and mainpuri was seized while in 2019, its recovery was 4,034,652 packets. The cabinet directed IGP to launch a vigorous and ruthless operation against drug peddlers and smugglers in the city. Traffic Enforcement: The cabinet was told that during 2019, 3363699 traffic violation tickers were issued and a fine of Rs766 million was recovered. Some 7197 drivers were arrested against violation of traffic rules and 1,056,560 vehicles were impounded. BRT fare: The transport department told the cabinet that the consultants have prepared fare structure for all the BRT Line in Karachi. Once the fare was approved, the investors would be attracted or investment deals would easily be negotiated. The fare structure is as follows: Upto two km far is set at Rs15, two to four km at Rs20, four to six km at Rs25, six to eight km at Rs30. From eight to 10 km, fare has been fixed at Rs35, 10 to 12 km at Rs40, 12 to 14 km at Rs45, 14 to 16 km at Rs50 and 16 and above at Rs55. The cabinet approved the fare structure and directed the transport department to start negotiations with the investors in BRT Lines. Quota for Transgender: Home department told the cabinet that the IGP had submitted a proposal regarding fixation of 0.5 percent quota in respect of transgender for recruitment in Sindh police. The chief minister said that rehabilitation of transgender was one of the priorities of his government. “We have to bring them in mainstream by offering them jobs in the government departments,” he said and approved a proposal of giving 0.5 percent quota to transgenders not only in police department but in all government departments. He directed social welfare department to take necessary measure to incline transgenders towards education, technical trainings and main stream. He congratulated transgender community on approval of their quota in government service. The chief minister also issued directives that the transgenders, apart from their special quota in government jobs, could participate in open competition without any discrimination. The food department through a presentation told the cabinet that last year issue price of wheat was Rs3250 per bag of 100 kg in PP bag and Rs3315 in jute bag. At present, the price of wheat in open market of Karachi is Rs4200 to Rs4250 per 100 kg bag. Just to ensure the sufficient availability of wheat in the open market and to maintain stable price of atta, the food department has to release around 1.2 tons of wheat for local consumption during September 2019 to March 2020. The cabinet was told that the food department has 800,000 tons of wheat in its stores to release in the market and it would have to purchase 100,000 tons from Passco at a rate of Rs844.50 per 100 kg bag. The cabinet approved the purchase of wheat from Passco. The cabinet also approved issue price of wheat at Rs3450 per 100 kg bag. The Punjab has fixed issue price at 3437.50 per 100 kg bag. Amal Umer Act: The cabinet approved rules and regulations of `Sindh Injured Person Compulsory Medical Treatment (Amal Umar) Act 2019. Minister health Dr Azra Pechuho said that the injury case of Amal Umar happened due to gun fired in police encounter on August 13, 2018. The injured little girl was not entertained in the private hospital and the hospital wasted 40 to 45 crucial minutes due to unnecessary medico legal requirement and ultimately the patient died during shifting to another hospital. The law passed by the assembly will help in saving the lives of the injured persons without any essential police involvement. Under the rules and regulations of the Act, the cost or payment incurred on the person provided the emergency medical treatment would be borne by the health department. The cabinet approved the rules and directed finance department to move a summary for creating a special fund for the persons receiving emergency medical treatment. Katchi abadis: The Sindh Cabinet approved the budget estimates of Sindh Katchi Abadis Authority (SKAA) for 2019-20 to the tune of Rs417.33 million, including provincial government grant of Rs200 million and revised estimates of 2018-19 to Rs338.663 million. The chief minister directed finance department to induct their senior officer in SKAA budget preparation work so that it could be done professionally. SSGCL: The forest department told the cabinet that the SSGCL had sought them permission for laying a gas pipe line from Ayesha Gas field to MV Golarchi, Badin through forest lands. The cabinet observed that the Ayesha Gas field had not done any work in the development of social work. The company has not hired local people, therefore, they could not be given right of way through forest lands. The chief minister directed energy department to provide details of the Ayesha Gas Field, including its contribution in social sector, local employment and others performances so that their request could be considered. Admin: The cabinet approved the appointment of Khawand Bux Domki, BS-11, as administrator of Town Committee Nido, District Badin and Ahsan Ali Shah, B-17 as Administrator Town Committee Pangrio, District Badin. Judges’ salaries: The law department sought the consent of the cabinet to give pension to the judges of Sindh High Court who were retired before completion of five years of service. The cabinet said that the law was very clear that the judges who have not completed five years of their services were not entitled to have their pensions.