14 August 2004	Saturday	27 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

KARACHI, Aug 13: The Sindh cabinet, which met here on Friday under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, has decided to raise the quota for handicapped people in all government services from one per cent to two per cent, and also opted to lift, with immediate effect, the ban on their employment in grades 1 to 16.

The meeting, attended by ministers, advisers and administrative secretaries, accepted a proposal put forward by Mr M. A. Jalil, Adviser to the CM on Excise and Taxation, that the quota must be allocated to deserving candidates.

It was decided that the position reserved for handicapped people would be kept vacant until a deserving person turned up. The decision was aimed at eliminating any possibility of misuse of the facility exclusively for disabled people.

Giving details of the meeting, Salahuddin Haider, Adviser to the CM on Information and Archives, said that the cabinet also decided to take up the issue of writing off small and poor growers' loans and the interest accumulated thereon in the next meeting. Qamar Mansoor, Waseem Akhtar, M. A. Jalil, Imtiaz Sheikh, Irfanullah Marwat and others proposed lifting of the long standing ban on jobs.

The chief minister accepted the suggestion by Shoaib Bokhari, Ministers for Planning and Development, Syed Sardar Ahmad, Minister for Fiance, to make a presentation to him within the next 15 days about the likely impact on provincial budget in case the ban was lifted or a decision is made to fill the already sanctioned vacancies in various departments.

The cabinet took exception to the reports that city governments in the province were diverting funds meant for development to the recruitment's at various levels in violation of the ban on appointments.

The chief minister agreed to another suggestion that the decision, already taken by the cabinet, to replace the word 'Secretaries' with 'Ministers' in the Rules of Business would be presented to him by the chief secretary for study and necessary action.

It may be mentioned that secretaries were given charge of government departments in Sindh during the days of the late General Ziaul Haq when there were no ministers in the province.

Now when a political government has been functioning, the ministers or advisers with the status of minister would be made in-charge of their respective departments. Dr Saeeda Malik's proposal that at least 20 per cent seats in parliamentary and other committees be reserved for women, was referred to the concerned departments. -APP