KARACHI: The Sindh cabinet on Tuesday decided to resolve the pension issues of the retired employees of all government departments immediately.

A meeting of the cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, was held here at the New Sindh Secretariat. The meeting was attended by all provincial ministers, advisers, chief secretary and secretaries concerned.

“An employee who retires from his/her service must be given their pension and dues in time,” the CM said, adding that metropolitan and municipal corporations and others had failed to develop a mechanism for payment of pensions due to which retired employees had been running from pillar to post for their legitimate right.

Sindh govt to give land to NTDC for installation of grid station for Dhabeji Special Economic Zone

“This is unfair and should be addressed on a priority basis,” he said.

He asked the chief secretary to personally monitor the situation so that the issue of payment of pensions and other arrears might be resolved once and for all.

Teachers’ transfer policy okayed

The education department presented a policy for transfer of teaching staff of the school education department.

It said that to ensure continuity of teachers during an academic year and restrain frequent transfers and postings, especially from remote rural areas to urban areas, a ban on transfers was imposed on Nov 5, 2018 and in August 2019 a complete ban was imposed on transfers of all teaching staff.

The cabinet was informed that the complete ban on transfers and postings for the past over two years had caused certain problems.

Education Minister Saeed Ghani presented a draft transfer-and-posting policy stating that general transfers of teachers would be notified in March every year and implemented from the new academic year.

The cabinet after a thorough discussion approved the policy of transfers and posting of schoolteachers.

The land utilisation department presented a case of allotment of seven acres to the National Transmission & Despatch Company for installation of a 220 kV grid station for the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Dhabeji.

The meeting was informed that a project of Rs4.25bn had been approved to provide electricity to the SEZ under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The cabinet approved the proposal and directed the land utilisation department to complete legal formalities.

3,000 acres of forest land given to SCDA

The Sindh Coastal Development Authority (SCDA) told the cabinet that the country was facing a high demand for edible oil as 4.5 million tonnes of edible oil worth $3.15bn was being imported annually to meet the domestic requirement.

CM’s Adviser on Environment Murtaza Wahab said that SCDA had a success story of oil palm plantation and installation of oil palm extraction mini mill in the coastal belt.

He said that the mill had started producing oil and requested the cabinet to provide 3,000 acres of forest land at Kathore and Hayat Gaho, taluka Ghorabari, to the SCDA.

The cabinet approved the proposal and provided 3,000 acres of forest land to SCDA.

The agriculture department told the cabinet that they intended to initiate three interventions to provide immediate relief to farmers/growers in order to address food security.

The three interventions include provision of agriculture implements on subsidised cost; installation of solar tube wells on subsidised cost and subsidy for the installation of controlled atmospheric stores on a turnkey basis.

The chief minister said that cold storages should be established at the level of divisional headquarters preferably in private sector or on a public-private partnership basis.

He said that as far as installation of solar tube wells and provision of agricultural implements or equipment were concerned the government should give subsidy to small growers.

Meanwhile, the cabinet approved extension of contract appointment of the managing director of the Sindh Civil Servants Housing Foundation (SCSHF), Iqbal Nafees Khan, for another two years.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2021