KARACHI, March 18: The Sindh cabinet was on Tuesday informed that irregularities were detected in the admission process at two medical colleges of the city.
Evidences of such irregularities were contained in a report presented by a committee at the cabinet’s meeting chaired by Chief Minister Ali Mohammed Mahar. The committee also recommended punitive action against the culprits.
Briefing newsmen on the decisions taken by the cabinet, the provincial Information Secretary, Ms Mahtab Akbar Rashdi, said the the report was prepared by a committee formed earlier to look into the matter. The committee, she said, was comprised of provincial ministers Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Dr Saeeda Malik, Health Secretary Ashiq Hussain Memon, Additional Secretary Health (Technical) and the Principal of Sindh Medical College.
About the committee’s findings, she revealed that out of the 53 admissions to Sindh Medical College and Dow Medical College in 2002, only 15 were found genuine. The rest, she said, were given on fake documents. She said that 37 such cases pertained to SMC and one to DMC.
The committee has recommended that the admissions given on fake documents should not be regularized and that punitive action should be taken against those given admissions on fake documents as well as those who facilitated them in the process.
Ms Rashdi said the cabinet decided that the committee, in which another Minister, Syed Shoaib Bukhari, was inducted, would send its recommendations to the CM through a summary for further action.
To a question, Ms Rashdi revealed that nine officials — Bashir Memon (administrative officer, SMC), Alimuddin (assistant, SMC), Mohammed Saleem, Naeem and Aijaz Siddiqi (junior clerks), Mohammed Anwar (assistant, DMC), Jamil Asghar (administrative officer, DMC), Abdul Hadi, (programme coordinator, SMC) and Abid Ali (stenographer, SMC) — had been placed under suspension whereas action had also been initiated against four professors on the committee’s report.
The cabinet meeting decided to give the committee an additional task of fact-finding and making recommendations on the regularization of adhoc doctors.
Yet another decision taken by the cabinet was the allocation Rs840 million for the development projects identified by elected representatives. Each of them would be entitled to identify schemes costing Rs5 million.
Future of Sindh Arid Zone Development Authority (SAZDA) also came up for discussion. Sazda is to be wound up under a notification issued earlier. Ms Rashdi said that majority of the cabinet members was of the view that an organization, created for a good objective and run by no less than 38 director generals, should not be wound up on the basis of its being mismanaged.
They were of the view that the Authority should better be retained with a ‘restructured administration’ contending that neither the existing staff was being dispensed with (thus keeping the salary bill unaffected) nor the Sazda assets were to be disposed of.
In this regard, a committee was constituted to recommend measures for the revival, revitalization and restructuring of Sazda.
Comprising provincial ministers Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Chaudhary Iftekhar; CM’s Advisors Aijaz Ali Shirazi, Jadim Mangrio and Aftab Ahmed Shaikh; and additional chief secretary (finance), the committee will submit its report to the cabinet at its next meeting.
Ms Rashdi told newsmen that the cabinet decided to release 50,000 tons of wheat in the local market and tendering should be based on the pre-determined reserve price. For this purpose, a committee was assigned the task to submit a report within three days to ensure transparency in transactions.
A report of the irrigation committee was also presented to the cabinet and it was decided that percentage-wise distribution of the amount, Rs10 billion, for the revamping, restructuring and relining of the channels would remain unchanged.
It was also decided to send part-II of PC-I of the scheme regarding lining of channels costing Rs17 billion to the ministry of water and power for its approval from ECNEC and CDWP.
RECRUITMENT: Provincial Information Secretary, Mahtab Akbar Rashdi told newsmen: “The governor has not yet taken a decision on lifting of ban on jobs, although the matter did come under consideration at the cabinet meeting,” add agencies.
The cabinet decided to examine the issue from all angles and then take a decision thereof, she said.
Majority of the cabinet members was in favour of lifting the ban but decided that the facts and figures thereof should be kept in view and examined from all aspects as the provincial government was spending Rs30 billion under salary bill.
She pointed out that Sindh had recently got rid of overdraft.
To a question, she said that IMF had not expressed dissatisfaction over the lifting of ban on jobs.
In fact, she elaborated, the Fund had been advising the government to take any such decision keeping the province’s economic situation in view which had forced it to resort to right-sizing, downsizing and restructuring.
