KARACHI: The Sindh cabinet has condemned the violation of Pakistani airspace by the Indian Air Force and appreciated the appropriate response by the Pakistani armed forces, which remain committed to defend the motherland along with the people.

The cabinet expressed these views in a resolution, which was adopted in its meeting held here on Wednesday.

The resolution, which was presented by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah as soon as the meeting began, reads: “The cabinet condemns the violation of Pakistani airspace by the Indian air force and termed it as a brazen violation of international law.

“The cabinet, presided over by the chief minister, also rejects the false and malicious propaganda of India against Pakistan and has resolved that the government and the people of Sindh stand united against any possible India aggression.”

It also appreciated the well-rounded and measured response of the Pakistani forces.

Five million tonnes wheat to be exported

Later, taking up the agenda of the last cabinet meeting held on Monday, it decided to export five million tonnes of wheat through open sale, but deferred the decision about the procurement target for wheat crop 2018-19 till the next cabinet meeting.

The meeting, which was attended by Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, all provincial ministers, advisers, special assistants and others concerned, was informed that the government had procured 1.4 million tonnes wheat during the last crop at the rate of Rs1,300 per 40kg (Rs3,250 per 100kg) but had net 800,000 tonnes of wheat surplus with the food department.

The cabinet gives its consent to the government to establish provincial grid company

The fresh wheat procurement from 2018-19 crop was opposed by many members, saying that the procurement had never given any benefit to small growers except helping in stabilising wheat prices in the market and developing some stocks in the food department to intervene in case of any emergency or shortage of wheat. The government was also earning a bad name despite spending millions of rupees on wheat procurement.

The cabinet also approved the bill of Abdul Majid Bhurgri Institute for Language Engineering.

Education and Culture Minister Sardar Shah told the cabinet that it was expedient for advancement of Sindhi language at par with national and international languages to establish the Abdul Majid Bhurgri Institute for Language Engineering.

Abdul Majid Bhurgri was the founder of computing in Sindhi language. His work from 1987-88 enabled the use of Sindhi language on personal computers and revolutionised the Sindhi printing and publishing industry. The cabinet approved the bill and referred it to the assembly.

A proposal of the Sindh Revenue Board to levy the Sindh Sales Tax on services, health and life insurance, cable operators and on contractors and construction services was deferred till the next meeting.

The meeting gave approval to the Sindh Public Finance Administration Act 2019 under which more financial powers would be devolved to the field and administrative officers.

It also adopted the recruitment rules of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), Sindh.

Sindh to establish provincial grid company

The cabinet also decided to establish a provincial grid company to construct more than 792kV grid stations of renewable plants.

Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh said that Sindh had already established the Sindh Transmission and Dispatch Company (STDC) for evacuation of 100MW from Sindh Nooriabad Power Company to KE with a 95km-long transmission line.

The provincial grid company, which would be a part of the STDC, would construct 220kV projects at Nooriabad, Jhimpir, Gharo and two 132kV grid station of around 25kV unit at KWSB’s K-IV project to supply energy to pumping stations Nos. I and II.

The cabinet appointed Advocate Manzoor Hussain Larik as the secretary of the Board of Governors of law colleges affiliated with Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur.

The cabinet also deferred another decision pertaining to cancellation of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Sindh health department and the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), Karachi so that management of cardiovascular units established by the provincial government in its hospitals in Mithi, Khairpur, Lyari, Hyderabad, Sehwan, Larkana, Tando Mohammad Khan, Nawabshah, and Sukkur could be taken over.

The cabinet was told that the Sindh Assembly had passed the Sindh Institute of Cardio Vascular Diseases (SICVD) Act, 2018 and the above health facilities had become part of the SICVD.

The chief minister said that as the provincial government filed a review petition in the Supreme Court to take back control of the NICVD, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and National Institute of Child Health from the federal government, at this stage cancellation of the MoU may affect the case.

He constituted a committee comprising health minister, law adviser, advocate general, law and health secretaries to review the legal position. “In case the cancellation of MoU was necessary then it would be deemed as cancelled,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2019