KARACHI: Sparking a fresh political controversy days before the tenure of local bodies in the province is due to end, the Sindh cabinet on Thursday approved carving out a new district — Keamari — from Karachi’s district West, and directed the Board of Revenue (BoR) to submit a detailed proposal for the creation of more districts in the province which had big populations or areas.

The decision emerged after a cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah here at CM House. The meeting was attended by all provincial ministers, advisers, the chief secretary and officers.

The cabinet was told that at present district West had seven sub-divisions —Manghopir, SITE, Baldia, Orangi, Mominabad, Harbour and Mauripur — besides having seven circles, nine tapas and 23 dehs with a population of 3,914,757. It was observed that district West was the largest in the province in terms of population.

The cabinet approved the creation of Keamari district, out of district West, comprising four sub-divisions — SITE, Baldia, Harbour and Mauripur — with a population of 1,833,864.

Keamari district will have three circles, five tapas and 11 dehs. The decision was taken in the “larger public interest”, the meeting was told.

The chief minister said the districts of Karachi had peculiar names such as South, East, West, Central etc. They must have proper names such as Central be named Nazimabad etc. He also directed the BoR to suggest names to rename these districts.

Hints at creating more districts from those having big populations or areas

The chief minister, on recommendations of some cabinet members, directed the BoR to prepare a comprehensive proposal for the creation of more districts in the province. He added that the districts which had big populations and vast areas should be bifurcated into two districts for the convenience of local people.

“Khairpur is the largest district; it must be bifurcated in two districts. I have heard that it has a constitutional protection, therefore, it could not be divided,” the CM said and directed the law department to explore ways to create another district from Khairpur.

Administrators

The cabinet was told the term of local councils was completing on Aug 29, 2020, as the councils convened their first meeting on Aug 30, 2016 wherein the mayors, deputy mayors, chairmen and vice chairmen were sworn in.

The chief minister said Sindh was the only government which allowed local bodies to complete their tenure. “We had allowed the mayor to work from jail but did not deprive people of the city of their mandate,” he said and vowed to hold elections as soon as possible.

Mr Shah said that the SLGA-2013 would be amended to strengthen local bodies further. Therefore, with the approval of the cabinet, he formed a sub-committee comprising Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Shah, Adviser on Works Nisar Khuhro and Adviser on Law Murtaza Wahab to furnish their recommendations within a month. He directed the committee to consult all the parties and stakeholders while framing amendments and recommendations.

The cabinet directed the local government department to issue a notification of completion of four-year terms of all local councils on Aug 29.

The cabinet authorised appointment of administrators in the local councils for their smooth performance and to seek ex-post facto approval from the chief minister.

By-election

The chief minister told the cabinet that two provincial assembly seats, Malir and Umerkot, had been lying vacant after the deaths of Murtaza Baloch and Ali Mardan Shah. He added that the Election Commission of Pakistan could not conduct elections due to the Covid-19 situation. Now, they have sought the assent of the provincial government to hold the election, he said.

The cabinet discussed and decided to request the ECP to hold free and fair elections in both the constituencies under Covid-19 SOPs.

It was observed that when the SOPs would be implemented, the election process would definitely take time, therefore, the election commission would be requested to increase the polling time.

Import of wheat

The chief minister told the cabinet that the wheat consumption in Sindh had been recorded at 5.6MMT against which 3.8MMT had been produced during the current crop year that showed a shortfall of 2MMT. Earlier, this shortfall was covered through wheat from Punjab. “But, sorry to say, the wheat of Punjab has disappeared mysteriously, therefore, we will have to import wheat,” he said.

The cabinet discussed the matter and decided to import 1.5MMT through TCP for which the secretary of finance and secretary of food would work out a mechanism.

The cabinet discussing release of wheat, authorised the food minister to start releasing wheat from the first week of September but if he felt fit he could release wheat to flour mills/chakkis before September.

DHQ Badin, Aman HCS

The health department told the cabinet that the DHQ Badin was being operated on the PPP mode. A grant of Rs1.272 billion has to be released, otherwise the performance of the hospitals would be affected.

The cabinet appreciated functioning of the DHQ Badin. Its OPD was getting an increased number of patients from nearby districts. The cabinet approved a grant of Rs1.272bn and directed the hospital administration to conduct its audit from an independent auditor.

Health Secretary Kazim Jatoi told the cabinet that Rs300 million was required as grant-in-aid for the Aman Healthcare Services. The cabinet appreciated the provincial government for running the Aman ambulance service in the city. The cabinet approved the proposal of a Rs300m grant. At this the chief minister directed the health secretary to ask the Aman Healthcare Service authorities to induct 50 ambulances in their fleet.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2020