The Provincial Caretaker cabinet of Sindh in over two hours of sitting discussed 24 agenda items and took important decisions including recruiting Assistant Sub-inspectors (ASIs) through a public service commission and approving Rs357 million for rangers to strengthen its capacity. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (R) Maqbool Baqar at CM House on Friday. The provincial ministers, chief secretary Dr Fakhre Alam, Chairman P&D Shakil Mangnejo, Advocate General Hassan Akbar and concerned secretary attended the meeting.
The school education department told the Cabinet that deputy commissioners and executive engineers of concerned districts conducted the identification of schools to be used as polling stations for the provision of missing facilities. The committees identified 9901 schools, including 1,015 in Karachi, 4520 in Hyderabad and 4,366 in Sukkur, which needed to be repaired along with the provision of missing facilities. The budget proposed for repairing and maintaining 9901 schools has been worked out at Rs3.3 billion.
The cabinet approved the proposal.
The home department briefing the cabinet said that the Police Department has sent a requisition for general recruitment against 1046 posts of ASIs through the Sindh Public Service Commission. The Provincial Cabinet Sindh in its meeting on 29-05-2001 decided intermediate as the basic educational qualification for recruitment to the post of ASIs and since then the recruitment to the post of ASI has been carried out on an Intermediate basis.
It was pointed out that under the “Sindh Police (Shaheed, Deceased, permanently invalidated or incapacitated quota) Recruitment Rules 2021, the requisite qualification for the post of ASIs is Graduation while under the cabinet decision of May 29, 2001, the requisite qualification is second-class intermediate. The cabinet fixed the standard of qualification for ASI as Graduation and their recruitment would be made through Sindh Public Service Commission.
The home department told the cabinet that Pakistan Rangers have requested for provision of Rs357 million for upgrading riot control measures by equipping them with water cannons, quick response force vehicles and reliable communication equipment. The cabinet discussed the matter and approved the funds to strengthen the operational capacity of Rangers in the province. The cabinet was told that the federal government has claimed liabilities relating to the deployment of Frontier Constabulary in Sindh from 2005 to 2008 in aid to civil administration for maintenance of law and order.
The amount claimed by the federal govt includes Rs149,563,697 pay and allowances Rs77,340,849 and Rs77,340,849 for Internal duty. The total amount comes to Rs226.902 million. The cabinet approved the amount to clear the liability. The energy department told the cabinet that with the development of Thar Coal Block-II, 757 families were affected. The cabinet had approved compensation for the affected families at Rs100,000 for each affected family of the Gorano project per annum. The cabinet had also decided to release Rs900 million for 757 families to the Thar Foundation. It was pointed out that after verification 501 families were identified instead of 757.
The cabinet was told that in 202-21 Rs50.1 million were disbursed and Rs27.4 million were in balance. In 2021-22 Rs50.1 million were released/disbursed. An amount of Rs32.883 million is still in balance, including Rs5.483 million profit from the bank. This year, 2023-24, Rs51.159 are to be disbursed among the affected families against which Rs32.883 million is in balance and Rs18.216 million are shortfall. The cabinet approved Rs18.216 million (shortfall) outside budget so that compensation could be paid to the affected people of Gorano Reservoir project. The cabinet was told that Rs18.216 million were required to disburse the compensation during 2023-24.
