HYDERABAD, July 4: Thirty per cent funds of the Sindh Devolved Social Services Programme (SDSSP) will be spent on projects devised to improve water supply, sewerage system and health and sanitation in the province. This was stated by the Programme Director of the SDSSP, Qazi Kabeer Ahmed, at a seminar here. The theme of the seminar was ‘Let’s make our sectoral interventions pro-poor, and let’s be part of the global call to action against poverty’.
During the seminar, town and taluka municipal officials were briefed on various aspects of planning in water and sanitation sector.
Qazi Kabeer Ahmed said that the government had provided Rs1.34 billion to 63 taluka administrations and 15 districts for improving health and sanitation sector.
He said that on the recommendations of the taluka municipal administrations, 50 per cent of funds had been allocated on the basis of population, 30 per cent on the basis of ‘backwardness’ and the remaining 20 per cent to be distributed in the talukas equitably.
Qazi Kabeer Ahmed said that the province did not have enough facilities for garbage disposal. As a result of this shortcoming garbage was disposed of on the roadsides in many talukas, creating the danger of epidemics.
He urged municipal administrators to ensure that garbage was disposed of outside the municipal limits and in a foolproof manner.
He assured the officials of financial and technical assistance in this connection.
CUSTOMS REVENUE: The Collectorate of Customs, Sales Tax and Central Excise, comprising whole of Sindh except Karachi, has claimed to have surpassed the revenue target for the last fiscal year.
A statement issued by the collectorate said it had been assigned a revenue target of Rs1.4 billion for the financial year 2004-05, against which the collectorate collected Rs14.6 billion on account of customs duty, sales tax and central excise duty.
It also claimed to have collected Rs2.9 billion on account of sales tax on imported goods.
The collectorate of customs said that the revenue target was surpassed despite the fact that there had been no expansion in the industrial base and sugar production had declined.
It said that according to the Sindh agriculture department, production of sugarcane had decreased by 27 per cent compared to its production in the last season.
The statement said that the excellent recovery was achieved due to liberal polices of the government, the attitude of the taxpayers and dedication of the officers and staff of the customs collectorate.
PASSPORT FEE: The government has fixed Rs2,100 and Rs4,000 for issuing ordinary and urgent machine readable passports respectively.
This was announced by the Assistant Director of Passports. He said that the fee should be deposited in the branches of National Bank at Shahbaz Building, Market Road and Latifabad.