KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has decided to make mandatory drug testing of students from class VI to intermediate level in all government and private institutions.

He said this while presiding over a meeting about the drug menace in educational institutions all over the province. The meeting was attended by education minister Jam Mehtab Dahar, health minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro, principal secretary to the CM Sohail Rajput, education secretary Iqbal Durrani, health secretary Dr Fazlullah Pechuho and others.

Approves Rs95 million for operating 32 buses on Sharea Faisal

The chief minister said there were some alarming reports from some of the leading universities of the country where some of the students were using drugs. “I am quite worried and want to protect our children from all social evils; it is our collective responsibility to protect our children from the growing menace of drugs,” he said.

The chief minister constituted a committee comprising the minister of health, minister of education, secretary of education and secretary of health for drafting a law to make mandatory drug testing of students of secondary to higher secondary levels. “It would be mandatory for every student to pass the test,” he said, adding that he was sure parents would cooperate and support him in this task.

New bus service

Presiding over another meeting to review the progress of the transport department pertaining to intra-city and intercity bus projects, the chief minister approved Rs195 million for operating 32 buses under the intra-city bus project on Sharea Faisal while in the second phase buses would be started on five different intra-city routes.

He directed the provincial information and transport minister Syed Nasir Shah to make necessary arrangements for launching the bus services on Feb 15. He also directed the minister to complete the BRTS Sattar Edhi Line (Orange Line) to be completed by March 2018.

The meeting was also attended by minister for P&D Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, chairman P&D Mohammad Waseem, secretary of transport Saeed Awan and others, and details about the progress of BRTS Sattar Edhi Line (Orange Line) projects was shared.

The transport minister, who last September had announced bringing 600 new Daewoo buses within two months under the City Transport Service, briefed the chief minister and said that the provincial government had earmarked Rs2 billion to place them at Sindh Modaraba Ltd to support subsidy requirements of the project over a period of five years. There is debt equity ratio, means 15 per cent transporters’ equity and 15 per cent equity to be shared by the Sindh government in the form of an interest free loan. The Sindh government has already signed an agreement with Sindh Modaraba Ltd.

He said the transport department had received the proposal from Daewoo Express Ltd which envisaged inducting 288 vehicles on five routes with average fleet of 50 vehicles per route. The routes are Qayyumabad to Qasba Colony, Baldia to Quaidabad, Shah Faisal Colony to Fisheries, Landhi to Surjani, and Landhi to Baldia, he added.

The Daewoo Express, keeping in view Sindh Modaraba Ltd, had also given a proposal to ply 134 vehicles on nine different routes. The routes are Karachi to Hyderabad, Karachi to Sukkur, Karachi to Mirpurkhas, Karachi to Larkana, Karachi to Benazirabad, Karachi to Multan, Karachi to Dera Ghazi Khan, Karachi to Quetta, and Sukkur to Quetta.

Nasir Shah said that Daewoo had also proposed partnering with nine independent sole proprietors. He added that the sole proprietor would handle the equity side of the project and would own the buses while Daewoo would be the operational partner and manage/operate the fleet. Each sole proprietor would be eligible for a Sindh Modaraba loan for the project.

The chief minister asked the minister to ensure all the agreements and other arrangements meet the target of starting the intra-city bus service in Karachi from Feb 15, 2018, and also expedite the proposal for launching intercity bus project.

The chief minister was also briefed on the BRTS Abdul Sattar Edhi Line (Orange Line) project with six bus stations, one of which would be elevated. It would have two packages, one from Orangi Town to Bacha Khan Flyover, and the other from Bacha Khan Flyover to Jinnah University for Women, North Nazimabad. On package one with 1.38km length, 42 per cent work has been done while its completion date is April 2018; on the other package with 2.5km, 25 per cent work has been done.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2018

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