KARACHI: The caretaker Sindh cabinet on Tuesday approved Rs300 million to be given to 30 district returning officers (DROs) across the province for election-related expenditures.

Majority of DROs in the province are deputy commissioners (DCs) but a few of them belonged to some other departments.

Official sources said that the amount was sanctioned by the cabinet after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had written a letter to the chief secretary and informed that some DROs in Karachi and Hyderabad were facing issues like non-availability of vehicles, equipment and office furniture.

They said that the ECP asked the provincial government to direct all concerned to extend complete assistance to the election officials for effectively organising and holding the Feb 8, 2024 elections in a free, fair and transparent manner.

Chief Secretary Dr Fakhre Alam asked the cabinet to allocate an amount of Rs300m (Rs10m to each DRO) for election expenditures, adding that in case of any shortfall, more funds may also be provided separately on a case-to-case basis.

The cabinet also approved an amount of Rs168m to be given to DCs to clear old liabilities of the local government elections.

Rs29bn okayed

Additionally, the cabinet has approved allocations of Rs1.1 billion for the construction of Link Road Interchange, Rs33.956m for Khirthar National Park boundary demarcation and fixing of boundary pillars, Rs1.4bn for the reconstruction of three schools in district West, and Rs115m for the restoration of Hindu Gymkhana.

The cabinet also approved an amount of Rs29.376bn so that power distribution companies — Hesco, Sepco and KE — could make power bills of the Sindh government up to April 2024.

Electric Buses

The cabinet was informed that the provincial transport department had initiated the Electric Bus Service, being operated by Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP) under a Rent-to-Own Model and currently, 40 of the 50 buses were put into operation on three routes in Karachi, with 10 buses on standby.

The cabinet approved Rs768.6m per annum for 50 Electric Buses for eight years.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2023