KARACHI: Caretaker Finance Minister of Sindh Muhammad Younus Dagha on Monday said that the interim government was paying special attention to the rehabilitation of the victims of 2022 unprecedented downpour and flooding in the province.

Speaking to the media in his office, he said that the rehabilitation work had been started [by the previous government] with full determination but its pace appeared to be slow.

“We are making efforts to complete construction of houses for the victims at an accelerated pace to mitigate their sufferings,” he said, and added that the caretaker government had set the target of building 100,000 houses every month.

He revealed that directions had been issued for the release of Rs20 billion every month for the purpose.

Finance minister wants 100,000 houses built each month

About the issues relating to pension of retired government empl­oyees, he said payments in this regards were disrupted due to he­a­vy workload and paucity of funds.

He held out the assurance that the pension budget would be increased gradually.

Mr Dagha said that the mandate of the caretaker government was limited, but they were trying to undertake public welfare works.

Talking about the measures to improve performance of government departments, he said officers of good reputation had now been appointed.

The minister also stated that instructions had been given to revenue officials to improve record-keeping through digitisation. He said: “I have instructed the officials to remove defects in the revenue accounts through computerisation of records on scientific lines”.

Mr Dagha said a policy would be evolved in consultation with the private sector to bring about a rapid improvement in Karachi’s transport system.

He said the caretaker government was also trying to ensure implementation of public welfare projects within its limited mandate.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2023