KARACHI: The Sindh Cabinet on Tuesday took serious notice of cars and luxury vehicles plying on roads with fake registration number plates of provincial government and police and directed the excise and taxation department to launch a crackdown on them.

Participants in the cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah also directed the excise and taxation authorities to impound such vehicles and take strict action against their owners.

The provincial cabinet also directed district administrations across the province to start assessment of losses of life, houses, crops, roads and sewerage system so that the federal government could be approached to compensate the affected people.

The chief minister directed the local government department to get all the damaged roads, sewerage lines of Karachi and other districts repaired.

Approves Rs1.5bn for road repair works on Peoples Bus routes

Date, Kharif crops losses

The cabinet was told that heavy monsoon rains had caused havoc throughout the urban and rural areas of the province.

CM advisor on agriculture Manzoor Wassan said that date crops were almost ready to harvest, but heavy rains washed them away in Khairpur and caused a loss of billions of rupees to date growers.

He also took up the issue of damages caused to other Kharif crops in the province.

The chief minister directed all the deputy commissioners across the province to assess the losses, including lives, katcha and pacca houses, road network, drainage and sewerage system.

Besides approaching the federal government for grant of compensation, he said, the provincial government would also help the affected people from its own resources.

Board to run 22 seminaries

The cabinet also approved a proposal to constitute a seven-member management board under the secretary of school education to run 53 educational institutions, including 31 schools and 22 Madaris taken over by the government in compliance with the Financial Action Task Force terms.

The management board has been assigned to run the taken over educational institutions.

The cabinet was told that roads and drainage system of all the seven routes of Peoples Bus Service were damaged at different locations. The repair of roads and drainage systems would help smooth operation of the newly launched bus service.

The cabinet approved a fund of Rs1.5 billion for repair works to be carried out through Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, Karachi Development Authority and the water board.

The cabinet approved a proposal of the energy department to provide alternative energy solutions like solar technology for electricity in villages.

Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh told the cabinet that a mini/micro grids solar home system would be established to provide electricity to villages under a ‘village electrification plan’. The cabinet approved the proposal.

The cabinet on the request of an NGO, Children of Adam, approved allotment of 10-acres of land for establishment of Neuropsychiatric Centre at Deh Konkar, Karachi. The price fixation committee had fixed the market price of the land at Rs13 million per acre, but the cabinet approved it at 50 per cent of the market price — means Rs6.5 million per acre.

Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon told the cabinet that 75 acres of land was given to the Hyderabad Press Club. He added that the club body had requested that the registration fees and other taxes may be exempted.

The cabinet was informed that there was no provision to grant exemption and it was proposed that the cabinet might give a grant to the press club for payment of their taxes which the cabinet approved.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2022