KARACHI, Nov 27: The Sindh Chief Secretary, Fazlur Rehman, has called for taking effective measures against bird flu, Congo virus and other viral infections in all the districts of Sindh.

He directed that all the requirements in this regard be fully met at the teaching hospitals.

The chief secretary was speaking at a meeting of Secretaries Committee held at the New Sindh Secretariat here on Saturday.

It was also decided that from now on the required manpower in the education, health, works and services departments would be hired on contract basis.

The meeting decided that the salaries of these contract-based employees would be raised according to their performance, and those with poor performance would be sent home according to the terms and conditions of their contracts.

It decided that this contract-based recruitment would be conducted on district levels, and there would be no provision of transfer or posting of these employees to other districts.

The chief secretary said that a proper monitoring system and effective inter-departmental coordination would be applied to form a strategy regarding the completion of uplift projects within the stipulated timeframe, so that people could be benefited.

He said that initiating five-year schemes should be avoided and the maximum duration of uplift schemes should be around three years, so that the release of funds and other provisions could be properly maintained.

The chief secretary said that the chief minister’s inspection team was being revamped so that the task of monitoring could be discharged effectively.

He clarified that the working of the chief minister inspection team (CMIT) and the anti-corruption establishment (ACE) was different.

The chief secretary said that the object of the CMIT was monitoring, so that the uplift works could be properly carried out, while the ACE was empowered to initiate probes according to its charter and Act.

On the occasion, Secretary Excise and Taxation Mir Hussain Ali suggested that the procurement process of his department should be reviewed.

The chief secretary said that it was the responsibility of the federal government. However, he said that reforms could be introduced according to the rules and regulations.

Secretary Cooperative Mumtazur Rehman expressed his concern over the harassment by the ACE and said that complaints in this regard by subordinate officials were observed. He said that the ACE chairman should take necessary steps in this regard.

ACE Chairman Asad Ashraf Malik informed the meeting that 700 cases pertaining to the years 1991, 1992 and 1993 had been closed during the current year.

He said that the ACE was discharging duties according to the Act and no inquiry was opened without prior permission of the concerned authorities.

Additional Chief Secretary Ghulam Sarwar Khero on the occasion reviewed the annual development programme (ADP) and briefed the meeting on foreign-funded projects.

The project director of the National Programme for Improvement of Watercourses, Younus Dagha, briefed the meeting on setting up of watercourses in the province.

The meeting decided that the superintendent engineers of irrigation and power department, DCOs, EDOs (Agriculture), and EDO (Revenue) should remain in close contact regarding construction of watercourses and all the DCOs would appoint a focal person in this regard within a week and inform the office of the Sindh chief secretary in this regard.

The meeting took a serious notice of the absence of DCO Hyderabad; all other DCOs were present in the meeting.—APP/PPI