KARACHI, June 10: The Sindh Annual Development Programme for the next fiscal year 2003-04 is likely to have an outlay of Rs11-12 billion and will be made public on June 16 when the provincial Finance Minister, Syed Sardar Ahmad, will present the new budget in the provincial assembly.

The provincial cabinet held a meeting here on Tuesday and gave approval to the transfer of administrative powers from governor to chief minister. A notification to this effect is yet to be issued, said Salahuddin Haider, Adviser to the CM on information, while briefing newsmen about the meeting held at the New Sindh Secretariat. Secretary Information Mehtab Akbar Rashdi was also present on the occasion.

It is learnt that although the law and order was No. 14 on the list of the agenda of 17 points, it was taken up as No. 2 point and a review of the law and order situation consumed much of the meeting’s time, leaving no option open for the chair to defer other important points — including local government issues and SMC students’ grievances, to the next meeting.

Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar, who presided over the meeting, stressed the need for paying more attention to the law and order to ensure further improvement and said he himself would be monitoring the situation in the province.

Mr Haider said that the cabinet also reviewed the proposal to merge Finance, Excise and Taxation and Board of Revenue to form the ‘Sindh Revenue Authority’.

The cabinet decided to keep it pending for studying it minutely before a decision.

Mr Haider said that the cabinet decided establishment of a medical college in Sukkur.

Mr Shoaib Bokhari, Minister for Planning and Development, told the meeting that utilization of development budget increased up to 41 per cent during the last five months. He pointed out that Rs20 million were earmarked for Sindh Education Foundation.

The cabinet gave approval to the proposal, put forward by Excise Minister Rauf Siddiqui to exempt 120-square yard plots and 600-square feet flats from property tax.

The IGP, Syed Kamal Shah, and Advisor to the CM on Interior affairs, Aftab Ahmad Shaikh, briefed the meeting on the law and order situation in Karachi and other parts of the province with the help of slides. A comparison of facts and figures indicated a remarkable improvement. Mr Haider told newsmen that the figures were being released separately.

The IG informed the cabinet about a ‘breakthrough’ in the bomb blast outside Alladin Park and unearthing of a ‘bomb factory’ from where bomb-making material was also recovered in a big quantity.

The DIG (traffic) said that car-lifting incidents had also declined by 27 per cent.

He said that the traffic police generated an annual revenues of Rs90 million through driving licence branch and Rs130 million from fines for traffic violations. He was of the view that if 15 per cent of the total revenues were passed on to the department, their could be a lot of improvement in the department’s performance.

The cabinet formed a three-member committee to consider the proposal that up to 40 acres of forest land be leased out to each of those NGOs or communities interested in forestation.

The decision on the denationalization of Khatoon-i-Pakistan Girls High School was deferred till the submission of a report by the concerned committee. However, the meeting decided to shift the Government Boys School from Mehmoodabad.