KARACHI: The Sindh cabinet on Wednesday approved a Rs4.021 billion compensation package for the rain-affected people of the province and requested the federal government to match the amount so that affected people could be rehabilitated in true letter and spirit.

The meeting was attended by all the provincial ministers and advisers, chief secretary and other officers concerned.

The Board of Revenue on the directives of the cabinet had conducted a survey of the monsoon 2020 affected people.

The survey revealed that the heavy rains claimed 149 lives, injured 103, completely damaged 7,120 pacca and 75,195 katcha houses, partially damaged 9,102 pacca and 171,463 katcha houses and caused the deaths of 8,165 cows, buffalos, horses, camels and 11,630 goats, sheep and donkeys.

The cabinet was told that under the law compensation for a person that has died in a natural calamity had been fixed at Rs100,000 for bread earners and Rs50,000 for non-bread earners.

Sindh govt wants ‘old’ KCR project scrapped

The cabinet approved Rs25,000 compensations for injured, Rs25,000 for completely and partially damaged pacca houses, Rs10,000 for completely and partially damaged katcha houses, Rs10,000 for large animals (cow/buffalo/horse/camel) and Rs5,000 for small livestock such as goat, sheep and donkey killed in the rains.

The total amount of the compensation to be given to the affected people would come to Rs4.021bn, which the cabinet felt was insufficient for rehabilitation of the poor people. Therefore, the cabinet requested the chief minister to write a letter to the prime minister with a request to match the compensation amount.

The cabinet also approved provision of relief to the small traders and growers who suffered losses due to heavy rains by giving them exemption in the federal as well as provincial taxes.

It was decided that the provincial government would request the federal government to give exemption of its taxes to the rain-affected small traders.

Sindh wants old KCR stopped

The transport and mass transit department informed the cabinet that 11 out of 24 crossing sites of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) had to be constructed either in the shape of underpasses or flyovers for smooth flow of traffic.

The detailed design and preparation of PC-1 for the proposed structures had to be made by the FWO for which the Sindh government had to release Rs25 million, it added.

It was said that the Sindh government had already released Rs15m and the cabinet approved release of remaining Rs10m.

The cabinet observed that with the start of the old KCR the modern KCR as approved and included in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects could not be launched. Therefore, it was proposed that the present KCR may be stopped and work on modern one (KCR) be started by urging the federal government to finalise the financial mechanism with the Chinese authorities to start the project, otherwise it would be an injustice with the people of Karachi to travel in old KCR.

The cabinet was told that some college teachers were demanding promotions on the basis of time scale. The cabinet directed the education minister to review the request.

Rules relaxed for KMC’s 66 CNG buses

The cabinet was told that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation had 66 CNG buses but almost all were off the road.

The local government department requested the cabinet to approve relaxation of rules for auction of rights for operation, complete management and fare collection of dedicated 66 CNG buses.

These buses would operate on the route from Gulshan-i-Hadeed to Keamari via Sharea Faisal and other routes for public transport service in the city.

The cabinet relaxed the rules and allowed the local government to auction the operation rights for five years.

The home department told the cabinet that under the safe city project the technical process for installation of 10,000 CCTV cameras had been completed and now installation work had to be carried out. The cabinet, after thorough discussion, allowed the home department to sign a memorandum of understanding with the National Radio Telecom Corporation (NTRC) for installation of 10,000 cameras in the city.

The cabinet on the proposal of home department granted special magistrate powers to revenue officers.

Land for Qatari ruling family

The provincial forest department told the cabinet that a member of the ruling family of Qatar had applied for allotment of a non-cultivated belt of tehsil Jati, district Sujawal, for falconry season 2020-21 with assurance to abide by the rules.

The cabinet was told that the compulsory hunting fee was $100,000 which has been increased by $5,000. The cabinet approved the request.

The meeting was informed that the inspector general of Sindh police intended to procure 700 pistols of 9mm calibre from Wah Industries for which exemption from operation of procurement rules was requested. The cabinet approved the exemption and release of Rs630m.

The cabinet also approved the appointment of retired Justice Shahnawaz Tariq as provincial ombudsman for protection against harassment of women at workplace for a period of two years.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2020