KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday urged the Sindh Cabinet to improve its performance and be more accessible to people.
He said this while presiding over a meeting of the Sindh Cabinet held at Bilawal House.
Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, Manzoor Wassan, Mukesh Chawala and other ministers were also present.
The chief minister informed the meeting that the Sindh government had released Rs 161 billion in the three quarters of the current fiscal year. “Out of them, Rs 86 billion has been spent. During the same period in the previous year, Rs 101 billion was released and Rs 51 billion was spent,” he said.
Briefing the meeting, the education minister said that out of 5,000 schools that had earlier been closed, the Sindh government had reopened 2,079. “A total of 1,400 schools were found not viable for reopening. A third-party evaluation of the reopened schools is being carried out to ensure that they are fully functional. Teacher training is also being outsourced to improve primary education,” the minister said.
The meeting was informed that hiccups in removal of garbage from Karachi would be removed. “The Sindh government is taking all steps to ensure that Karachi becomes a clean city. Cooperation of elected local bodies is also required,” the meeting was informed.
The Local Government Department minister said that a mega project for provision of 200 mgd water was under consideration.
The Works and Services minister said that the Sindh government had completed construction of 2,003 kilometres of roads in the province. “A total of 41 major road sector schemes are underway,” the meeting was told.
The Information Technology minister pointed out that his department had launched a project to provide websites to 44 government departments. “Data collection of provincial infrastructure is also underway, besides installation of security surveillance systems at hundreds of worship places of non-Muslims in the province,” the meeting was told.
The cabinet was informed that the province’s famous Sindhri mangoes had been registered to pave the way for their exports.
Bilawal said that the Sindh government had increased the job quota for women from 5 percent to 15 percent, which was unprecedented in the country.
The Sindh Mass Transit Project has formally been approved. “Buses under Edhi Lines, Yellow Lines, Blue Lines and Red Lines will be on roads by the end of this year in phases. Under People’s Service, 617 new buses under Public-Private Partnership are ready to run in Karachi by July,” he said.
The Health minister said that liver transplantation was being carried out in Sindh. He said that the Sindh government had tried to recruit 6,000 doctors to meet its need, but the process had been delayed due to litigation.
The cabinet meeting was informed that the Minority Affairs Department had undertaken 550 schemes for non-Muslim communities and their worship places.
Earlier, addressing the Sindh Cabinet, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had urged the members to work hard.
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