The Sindh Cabinet has approved a Rs4.021 billion as compensation for the heavy rain-affected people of the province and requested the federal government to match the grant/compensation so that affected people could be rehabilitated in true letter and spirit.
The cabinet on Wednesday also approved tax exemption for the small traders and growers from federal as well as provincial taxes just to compensate them for the losses they had suffered due to heavy downpour in2020.
The meeting was attended by all the provincial ministers and advisors, chief secretary Mumtaz Shah and other concerned officers. 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, 103 injured 7,120pacca and 75,195 katcha houses completely damaged, 9,102 pacca and 171,463katcha houses partially damaged, 8165 cattle, cow, buffalo, horse camel and11630 goats, sheep and donkey perished.
The provincial government gave the approval to release the remaining Rs10 million for Karachi Circular (KCR) project. During a briefing, the cabinet members were told that the Sindh government had already released Rs15 million funds for the KCR project. It is noteworthy to mention here that the Sindh government had been given the responsibility to construct 11 out of 24 underpasses and flyovers at railway crossings in KCR routes.
It has been decided to register the ambulance service of Aman Foundation as a new company. It was briefed that the ambulance service will be registered as a new company named Sindh Emergency and Rescue Services (SERS). The SERS board will be comprised of nine members and the provincial health minister will act as its chairperson.
The cabinet members were told that the provincial government is responsible for the entire funding of the ambulance service. The Sindh government approved Rs1.1 funds for the ambulance service and decided to increase its fleet to 200 ambulances.
The cabinet greenlighted the resumption of 66 CNG buses of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC). The buses will be given under private management for five years to provide transportation facilities to the commuters in the metropolis. The buses will run from Gulshan-e-Hadeed to Keamarien route Shahrea Faisal, the cabinet was briefed.Moreover, it has been decided to grant magisterial powers to assistant and deputy commissioners for price control. The Sindh cabinet decided to write a letter to the federal government for the procurement of 880,000 COVID-19 testing kits. During a briefing, it was told that rapid antigen kits are required by the health department.
The health officials told the cabinet that the province requires 330,000 COVID-19 extraction kits, 330,000 amplification kits, 480 swabs, and viral transport media (VTM) kits. The provincial government also decided to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the National Radio Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) and the home department for the installation of 10,000 cameras under the Karachi Safe City project.
