Akhtar Shaheen Rind
KARACHI: The provincial cabinet in its third sitting within the last two weeks took up an important agenda and decided to write off Rs7.2 billion old loans advanced to different government departments and organizations. It also decided to launch e-registration, e- mutation, and e-crop assessment project under the Board of Revenue and decided to allot land for the establishment of state-of-art Industrial Enclaves in Sukkur and Hyderabad. The meeting was chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah at CM House and was attended by provincial ministers, advisors, special assistants, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi, PSCM Fayaz Jatoi, and other concerned officers. Minister Information Sharjeel Inam Memon, after the cabinet meeting, addressed a press conference and shared the decisions taken by the cabine. Loans written off: The finance dept briefing the cabinet on old loans for which the record was untraceable said that Rs7.2 billion loans advanced from 19982-83 to 2012-13 to the government department and organization may be written off as recommended by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and sub-committee on Finance. The cabinet was told that Rs. 174.863 million loans advanced to private parties for the period from FY 1982-83 to FY 1992-93 were also long outstanding for which the record is neither traceable nor recoverable.The cabinet discussed the matter and approved the writing of the loan of Rs7,204,280,508 outstanding against the government organization and directed the finance department to inquire into the loan of Rs 174,863,627 advanced to the private organizations/parties. The loans decided to write off are as follows: Sindh Cooperatives Bank Rs27.5 million, Forest dept Rs4.5 million, Rs62 million of Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA), HAD Rs1.4 billion, Sindh Sugar Corporation Rs40.12 million, Sindh Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) Rs666.35 SRTC Rs200 million, KTC Rs249.2 million, KTC Rs253.2 million, Local govt Naushehro Feroze for salaries Rs30 million, Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd Rs263.48 million, Kotri Surface Drain Rs26.18 million, Hyderabad Electric Supply Corporation Rs450,000, DCO Tharparkar Rs44,895, KDA Rs839.86 million, KDA Rs221.13 million, Wapda Rs162,01 million, Shah Latif University Khairpur Rs900,000, Food dept Rs9.52 million, Kotri Surface Drain Rs4.39 million, Karachi Water & Server (KWSB) Rs2.55 billion, and DCO Hyderabad Rs682.1 million. e-registration: Minister Revenue Makhdoom Mahboob told the cabinet that at present, a computerized record of rights was being maintained through a central Data Center in Karachi connected with 27 service centers across Sindh. The record is also made available to the public through the official website of LARMI. The District Manager & Assistant Manager have been authorized to issue true copies to the public on request and payment of the prescribed fee. However, the services regarding registration of property documents and mutation are not being provided by the Service Centers. For
this purpose, Makhdoom Mahboob said that a new project – LARMIS-II was conceived, which contained different components such as e-registration, e-mutation, e-crop assessment, and up-gradation of Data Center, etc, and is now pending approval in the Planning & Development Department, Government of Sindh. The cabinet was told that technical assistance from Punjab IT Board would be taken on board to develop software and implementation of e-registration and e-mutation through Service Centers of LARMIS. The cabinet approved the project.Land for Industrial Enclaves: The Board of Revenue told the cabinet that the Sindh Economic Zones Management Company (SEZMC) has requested the allotment of Government land for the establishment of State of Art Industrial Enclaves in District Sukkur. The CM was told that the state land measuring 400 acres of the A-1 category was available in Deh Nando Kohistan, Taluka Rohri located between National Highway and Motorway Road. The market price of land has been fixed at Rs5 million per acre. Minister Local Government Syed Nasir Shah suggested that the land should be given to the Investment Department free of cost as the proposed industrial estate would generate employment opportunities and boost the economy. After a detailed discussion, it was decided to fix the price of the land at 25 percent of the market rate and the request of the SEZMC was approved. The SEZMC also requested the cabinet for the allotment of 451.37 acres of state land at Deh Goondar situated on the Hyderabad-Tando Mohammad Khan dual carriageway and another 500 acres at Deh Ganjo Takkar, Taluka Latifabad, Hyderabad for the establishment of Industrial enclaves. The revenue dept told the cabinet that the price of the lands has been fixed at Rs1.25 crores and Rs1 core respectively. The cabinet approved the allotment of the land, in principle, and constituted a committee with Minister Transport Sharjeel Memon, Minister Irrigation Jam Khan Shoro, and Special Assistant to CM Qasim Naveed to discuss the price of the land and report. SBP: The cabinet also approved the allotment of two acres of land at Deh Naseerabad, Taluka Sukkur for the State Bank of Pakistan – Banking Services Corporation, Sukkur for the establishment of their office at a market price of Rs20 million per acre. Land allotted for the hospital: The cabinet was told that Children of Adam, USA has requested for allotment of 5 acres of state land in District Korangi, Deh Phihai, taluka Landhi for the establishment of a Neuro-Psychiatric center.The cabinet approved the request and allotted five acres of land to Children of Adam for the establishment of the hospital. Ujala Center: Special Assistant to CM on Department Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPD) Sadiq Memon told the cabinet that the Parents Voice Association has requested the government to support the construction of Ujala-II Center for imparting different services such as Special education, Vocational Training, Family Training, Healthcare, Therapies (including speech, behavior, Occupational and Physio) and Transpiration. The cabinet was told that at Ujala-I the persons with disabilities were catered with Down Syndrome, Intellectual Disabilities, and cerebral Palsy. Currently, the facilities were imparted to 100 students.