KARACHI, Dec 25: There is no move under consideration for the bifurcation of Hyderabad district at the moment. However, according to section 6(2) of the Land Revenue Act 1967 , the government can vary the existing number and limits of districts or talukas of Sindh.

This was stated by Revenue Minister Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh in response to the question asked by Mr Zahid Ali Bhurgari of PPP during question hour in the Sindh Assembly on Friday.

The member had asked about the criteria as has been set for creating new districts. He also wanted to know whether there was any proposal for the formation of any new district or bifurcation of the existing district in Hyderabad.

The minister informed the house that the revenue department had already created four districts, namely Jamshoro, Kashmor, Kumber and Umerkot under a notification issued on Dec 13, 2004.

"There is no criterion already set under the relevant law/rules. However, under the section 6(2), the government may, by notification, vary the number and limits of the districts or talukas in the province,'' the minister explained.

In reply to a question by Ms Humera Alwani, Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim informed the house that during 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2004-05, the revenues generated through fish catch stood at Rs271, 122, Rs127,625, Rs35,540 and Rs193,845 respectively.

He also informed the members that during the years 2002, 2003, and 2004, 158, 120 and 610 fishermen, respectively, were trained at the Chilya Fish Hatchery in Thatta.

He said that Labo Rohita (Rahu) and Cirrihinus Mirgala (Mori) fish seeds were available in 280,000 and 400,000 (Fry/Fingerlings), respectively.

The Minister for Transport Mohammad Ali Siddiqui in response to the question by Mohammad Moin Aamir Pirzada about illegal bus stops informed the house that there were 12 clusters having 204 offices within Karachi from where buses were operated for other places.

He said that the Sindh and city district governments had prepared a plan to shift these illegal bus stops to some other place in near future.

In reply to a question by Ms Farheen Mughal, the Minister for Women Development, Dr Saeeda Malik informed the house that two schemes pertaining to the establishment of sales and display resource centre and day-care centre at Karachi were included in the ADP 2003-04, costing Rs5 million each. The work on these schemes could not be started due to the fact that funds were released late, in February 2004.