Daily Times

Sindh Minister for Information, Archives and Labour Saeed Ghani has said that the provincial cabinet allowed Sindh Local Government to set up courts of Sindh Building Control Authority.

According to the decision, the Sindh Local Government had been allowed to set up special courts of Sindh Building Control Authority under Sindh Building Control Ordinance 1979 wherever it wanted to. Provincial Minister said that briefing the cabinet the Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that cases related to building control would be heard in these courts, adding that there was still a lot of legislation to be done a propos the construction of buildings. He said this while briefing the journalists after the cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The cabinet meeting was chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah while all cabinet ministers and administrative secretaries as well as the relevant officers were present at the cabinet meeting.

Sir Cowasjee Institute

Sindh Minister for Information Saeed Ghani said that the Sindh Cabinet approved the draft bill of “Sir Cowasjee Jahangir Institute of Psychiatry and Behaviour Sciences Act 2019”. Provincial Minister said that Minister for Health Dr. Azra Pechuho while briefing the Cabinet informed that with the establishment of this institution a degree awarding institution in respect of Mental Health would be established. The cabinet was told that the chairman of this institution would be the Secretary Health, while the Vice Chairman would be the Chairman of Sindh Mental Health Authority. The cabinet after approving the draft bill of the institution agreed to send it to the provincial assembly, provincial minister for Information said.

Sindh HEC Recruitments

Sindh Minister for Information Saeed Ghani told the journalists that the provincial cabinet approved the amendments in the Sindh Higher Education Commission Employees (Recruitment) Rules 2014. He said that after the approval of the amendments, civil servants would also be posted in Sindh Higher Education Commission besides educationists. In addition, universities and boards had also been instructed to clarify the grades and positions of appointments at the next Cabinet meeting. According to the provincial minister, the cabinet had also prevented all universities from further recruitments. He said that the cabinet members were of the opinion that how these universities were recruiting more professionals when their management had claimed that they had no funds. The cabinet gave the observation that when universities had claimed they did not have the money even to pay the salaries, then why they were hiring more people.

Re-Structuring

Saeed Ghani told the journalists that the provincial cabinet also approved the transfer of Directorate of Sindh Archives from Information Department to Culture Tourism and Antiquities Department. He said that the cabinet was told that in 1976 the Education and the Sindh Archives were the part of the Culture Department, while at present the functioning of Sindh Archives was quite similar to that of the of Culture Department. The cabinet was briefed that the Culture Department would be able preserve old scripts and documents through Sindh Archives lab, the provincial minister said.

FBR & Board of Revenue Sindh

Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani told media persons that during a briefing to the Sindh Cabinet it was informed that there was a difference in valuation tables of FBR and Sindh Board of Revenue in valuation of urban immovable property in Sukkur Karachi and Hyderabad. The Cabinet was told that the value shown in the tables of Sindh Board of Revenue and FBR were not same in some of the cases. Cabinet members suggested that these values should be consistent. Saeed Ghani said that after the discussion, the Cabinet constituted a committee consisting of the Minister for Revenue, Minister for Energy and the Minister for Local Government, which would present its report at the next Cabinet meeting on the uniform rating in FBR and Sindh Board of Revenue’s Tables.

Land Allotment

Saeed Ghani said that the cabinet approved the allotment of land for solar and wind power projects in Thatta, Dadu and Jamshoro after a lengthy debate, but the cabinet decided that the land would only allotted to those companies which would meet all the requisite conditions. The cabinet was informed that the land was to be allotted to ten different companies, including the National Transmission and Dispatch Company, the provincial minister said. The land will be allotted on a 30-year lease, he added.

Sindh Bank

Saeed Ghani has said that Sindh cabinet has decided to keep microfinance bank with Sindh Bank besides submitting funds of rupees 2 billion in it. The Minister said that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah was of the view that the bank was granting loan to the poor womem who had been ignored by everyone. He also said that the cabinet also decided that all the institutions and subsidiaries of the Sindh government would keep their funds in Sindh Bank from now onwards. According to the cabinet’s decision, any grant given to any institution by the Sindh government would be deposited in the Sindh Bank, the Minister said. Saeed Ghani said that the Sindh cabinet also allowed Sindh Bank to lend money to its employees, if the State Bank had no objection over it. Provincial Information Minister said that Sindh Bank President Imran Sarmad while briefing the provincial cabinet informed that till now Sindh Bank had paid Rs.2.2bn in loan to ten thousand deserving women, while he also informed the cabinet about the performance of Sindh Microfinance Bank, which according to him was doing exceptional. Saeed Ghani said that Secretary Finance while briefing the cabinet informed that Sindh Cabinet had approved to deposit Rs 14.7 billion in Sindh Bank out of which Rs.9.7 billion had been deposited so far. The provincial information minister said that the Secretary Finance told the cabinet that Rs.5bn had yet to be deposited, of which Rs.3bn would be directly deposited by the Sindh government in the form of cash, while remaining Rs.2bn would be obtained after the merger of Sindh leasing.