Daily Times

Sindh Cabinet has directed district administrations across the province to start assessment of loss of lives and damages to houses, crops, roads network and sewerage system so that the federal government could be approached to compensate the affected people.

Presiding over a cabinet meeting here at CM House on Tuesday, the chief minister directed the local government department to get all the damaged roads, sewerage lines of Karachi and other districts repaired.

The cabinet was told that the heavy monsoon rains had caused havoc in the city and rural areas of the province. Advisor to CM on Agriculture Manzoor Wassan said that date-crops were almost ready to harvest but heavy rains washed those away in Khairpur and caused a loss of billions of rupees to the date growers. He also took up the issue of damage caused to other kharif crops in the province. Murad, on the recommendation of the cabinet, directed all the deputy commissioners across the province to assess the losses, including lives, mud-houses and cemented ones, road network, drainage and sewerage system so that the federal government could be approached for grant of compensation. He said that his government would also help the affected people from its resources.

The cabinet also approved a proposal to constitute a seven-member management board under the secretary school education to run 53 educational institutions, including 31 schools and 22 Madaris taken over by the government in compliance with FATF terms.

Minister Education Sardar Shah told the cabinet that his department has taken steps to oversee the management of all the educational institutions taken over by the government. He said that the administrators have been appointed to run the madaris (seminaries). The management board had been assigned to run those educational institutions. At the outset of the meeting, the cabinet members expressed sorrow over the tragic incident of an army helicopter crash. The cabinet also offered Fatiha for the people who lost their lives in Sindh and Balochistan due to heavy rains and floods. The cabinet was told that the roads and the drainage system of all the seven routes of Peoples Bus Service were damaged at different locations. The repair of roads and drainage systems would help smooth operation of the newly launched bus service.

The cabinet approved a Rs 1.5 billion fund for the repair works to be carried out through KMC, KDA and Water Board. The cabinet approved a proposal of the Energy department to provide alternate energy solution like solar PV technology for solarization of the villages. Minister Energy Imtiaz Shaikh while briefing the cabinet said that a mini/micro grid, Solar Home systems would be established to provide electricity to the villages under village electrification plan.

Imtiaz said that the solarization would be a quick and economical solution to village electrification. The cabinet approved the proposal and the CM directed the energy department to pre-qualify the firms on divisional level to undertake solarization of the villages which were without power supply.

The cabinet on the request of an NGO, Children of Adam approved allotment of 10-acre land for establishment of Neuro-psychiatric Centre at Deh konkar, Karachi. The price fixation committee had fixed the market price of the land at Rs 13 million per acre, but the cabinet approved it at 50 percent of the market price i.e. Rs 6.5 million per acre. The provincial minister for Information told the cabinet that 75-acre land was given to Hyderabad Press club.