• Compensation for martyred, injured policemen enhanced; Katcha area duty allowance granted
• Sugar cane price fixed at Rs425 per 40kg

KARACHI: The Sindh cabinet on Wednesday approved a project for the laying of 105km railway line between Thar coalfields and Chhor and another track between Bin Qasim town and Port Qasim to transport coal to upcountry for use in power plants and cement factories.

Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh told the cabinet that laying of the two railway lines was most important plan, and argued coal deposits in Thar were huge but due to the absence of required logistic facilities, particularly the railway lines, the consignments could not be transported easily in big quantities.

Mr Shaikh said that a number of meetings had been held with the federal government in the past and finally a proposal was submitted under which the Sindh government would have to extend 50pc loan of the total project cost [to the railways] for its execution.

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, who presided over the cabinet meeting, said that the railways authorities would have to pay profit to the provincial government.

The meeting approved the project.

Compensation for martyred policemen

The cabinet also approved enhancement of financial compensation for the families of martyred and injured policemen at a par with Punjab.

It was told that at present, Rs10 million compensation was being paid to the legal heirs of a policeman who embraced Shahadat in the line of duty.

The shuhada compensation would now be as follows:

Police constable/head constable: Rs23.5 million, including Rs10 million compensation and Rs13.5 million for construction of the house; ASI//SIP: Rs30 million, including Rs12.5 million compensation and Rs17.5 million for house construction; inspector/DSP: Rs40 million, including Rs18 million compensation and Rs25 million for house construction; SP/SSP: Rs48 million, including Rs18 million compensation and Rs30 million for house purchase; and DIG & above: Rs70 million, including Rs20 million compensation and Rs50 million for house purchase.

The family of a Shaheed SP & above ranks would be given a car (1300 cc) or an equivalent amount, while inspector and above-rank Shaheed official’s family would be given a car (1,000cc) or an equivalent amount.

The family of a Shaheed DIG and above-rank officer would be given Rs100,000 per year for maintenance of transport, SP/SSP Rs75,000, Inspector/DSP Rs50,000, ASI/SIP Rs35,000 and constable and headconstable Rs20,000.

Compensation for policemen’s death in road accident

The compensation for those policemen martyred in road accident would be as follows:

Head-constable/constable: Rs3 million compensation and Rs15,000 per annum maintenance of transport; ASI/SIP: Rs4 million compensation and Rs26,000 for transport maintenance; inspector/DSP: Rs4.5 million compensation and Rs37,000 for transport maintenance; SP/SSP: Rs5 million compensation and Rs56,000 for transport maintenance; and DIG & above ranks: Rs7 million plus Rs75,000 for maintenance of transport.

The cabinet also approved compensation for the injury/incapacitation as under: The compensation includes the category of terrorist attack, bomb blast etc. It approved Rs10 million in case of permanent incapacitation and Rs2.5 million in case of temporary incapacitation.

The Chief Minister decided that the compensation would be given right from 2017 and it would put an additional burden of Rs754 million per annum on the exchequer.

Katcha Allowance

The cabinet was told that controlling crime and nabbing criminals, operating in the Katcha area of Sukkur and Larkana divisions had remained a challenge. To cope with the situation, one component of the strategy was to place police personnel in the area on a permanent basis.

It was informed that the provincial police had devised a plan to establish 20 police camps and 350 police posts in the katcha areas of Ghotki, Sukkur, Shikarpur and Kandhkot-Kashmore districts.

At present 4,500 policemen have been deployed in the katcha area of the four districts.

The IGP requested the cabinet to grant an allowance for the police personnel deployed in the Katcha area at a rate of Rs10,000 per month.

The cabinet approved the request and noted that its total impact on the exchequer would come to Rs540 million per annum.

Sugar cane price

Adviser to the CM on Agriculture Manzoor Wassan told the cabinet that he had consulted the representatives of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), Sindh Zone on sugar cane price. He proposed that the price should be fixed at Rs425 per 40kg for the crushing season 2023-24.

Mr Wassan also proposed November 15 for the commencement of the crushing season. The cabinet approved the price and the date.

IBA Sukkur campus at Ghotki

Universities and Boards Minister Ismail Rahu told the cabinet that the IBA Sukkur had proposed establishment of a campus in Ghotki.

He requested the chief minister that the district’s Circuit House should be handed over for the campus.

The CM approved the request.

The cabinet decided that at the initial stage, the undergraduate degree programmes, BBA (Hons), BS (computer science), and BEd (Hons) would be started.

The cabinet also approved Rs150 million as one-time seed money for the Ghotki campus, Rs250 million as an annual recurring grant in aid starting from 2023-24, and Rs50 million as Endowment Fund Grant starting from the same year.

The IBA Sukkur was also granted permission to purchase buses and other vehicles for the Ghotki campus.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2023