KARACHI: The provincial cabinet on Tuesday passed a resolution reposing confidence and trust in the Election Commission of Pakistan, its chairman and members and called upon the federal government not to intervene in discharge of its constitutional obligations.

The cabinet meeting, held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah here at CM House, was attended by provincial ministers, law adviser, chief secretary and secretaries concerned.

The cabinet decided to engage private hospitals and laboratories in Covid-19 mass vaccination programme and encourage the private health sector to import the vaccine, allocate human resources and establish centres, especially in Karachi.

Health dept to engage private hospitals, laboratories in Covid-19 mass vaccination

The health department told the cabinet that during the pandemic, the provincial response to combat coronavirus was characterised by mixed public and private delivery of care.

Pvt sector to be encouraged to import vaccines

The meeting was told that the private health sector played a critical role in providing essential health services, especially when the public sector was so overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients.

It was further informed that on the receipt of the first consignment of Sinopharm vaccine, the provincial government started its vaccination drive to inoculate front-line healthcare workers against the virus in the first phase.

The health department said that recently, the vaccination of 60-plus general population had started and in the next phase, mass vaccination of all ages above 18 will be initiated. This will require involvement of the private health sector to boost the efforts of the health department to vaccinate every eligible resident of the province.

The chief minister said that the government must seek the commitment, capability and capacity of the private sector to import Covid-19 vaccine.

The cabinet allowed the health department to engage private hospitals and laboratories in Covid-19 mass vaccination and encourage the private health sector to import vaccines.

The chief minister directed the health department to formulate guidelines for the purpose along with registration mechanism under the Sindh Health Care Commission so that everything, including price of the vaccine should remain under control.

Governor returns succession bill

The cabinet was told that the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) had forwarded a list of 958 eligible candidates (male and female) and recommended them for appointment as staff nurses in BS-16.

The cabinet was told that the Letters of Administration and Succession Certificate Bill 2021 duly passed by the assembly in January was sent to the governor for accord of assent thereto.

It was informed that the governor had returned the bill with some observations.

The governor was of the opinion that if all the legal heirs were required for biometric verification for succession certificate, it would create problems for the legal heirs living abroad.

Keeping in view the observations of the governor, the cabinet referred the bill back to the committee for reconsideration.

The cabinet also reduced the registration fee on mortgage for low-cost housing projects on the recommendation of the National Coordination Committee on Housing, Construction and Development.

On the request of the health department, the cabinet approved a Rs300 million grant-in-aid in favour of the Aman Healthcare Services for a period of six months for continuation of operations of the Sindh Rescue and Medical Services.

The cabinet also directed the health department to get a new company registered so that funding issues could be resolved for good.

Body formed to examine KDA-KMC pension funds

The local government department requested the cabinet to approve a loan of Rs844.159m to clear outstanding dues of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA). The loan would be paid back after the auction of KDA plots.

The chief minister said that the KDA, local bodies and market committees were autonomous bodies and they had their established system to pay salaries, gratuity and pension to their retiring or retired employees from their resources.

He questioned why these bodies had failed to maintain their financial discipline and kept on requesting the provincial government for grant-in-aid to pay their pensions.

The chief minister asked where their pension fund was and how they invested and utilised it.

The cabinet keeping in view the questions raised by the chief minister constituted a committee under Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Shah and comprising ministers Ismail Rahu, Saeed Ghani and Imtiaz Shaikh and law adviser Murtaza Wahab to examine the pension funds of KDA, KMC, DMCs other local bodies, market committee and such other organisations, and to further examine how they invested it and why they got bogged down in such a serious financial crisis and report to the cabinet.

The overstaffed organisations would also be identified and a proposal for developing a ‘surplus pool’ would also be submitted so that they could be absorbed somewhere else.

The provincial cabinet in Nov 2019 had approved the establishment of special courts under the Sindh Building Control Ordinance (SBCO-1979) at divisional headquarters.

The cabinet, with the concurrence of the chief justice of the Sindh High Court, approved the proposal that the sitting district and session judges of districts in Karachi as well as Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Shaheed Benazirabad and Mirpurkhas divisions, in addition to their own work in their respective districts, would have the powers to exercise the jurisdiction within their territorial limits, as vested with judges of the Special Courts under SBCO 1979.

Military land excluded from Karachi master plan

On the request of the army, the cabinet excluded military land from the Karachi Strategic Development Plan (KSDP) 2020.

The military land excluded from the KSDP includes 300-acre Racecourse Ground, Saddar Cantt and 15 acres military land adjacent to Capri Cinema.

The cabinet also decided to allot 20 acres to Dawoodi Bohra community for their graveyard near Gadap.

The Bohra community had requested the chief minister that most of their members had shifted towards localities along Superhighway and they might be given a piece of land for a graveyard.

The price fixation committee fixed the market price of the land at Rs15m per acre. The cabinet, keeping in view the usage of the land, decided to allot the land at 50pc of the market price.

The chief minister said that other communities had also requested for land for their graveyards. He directed the Board of Revenue to find out similar lands for other communities.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2021