Sindh govt gives Bundal, Buddo Islands status of protected forests

• The cabinet has "approved an amount of Rs91,5230,000 to provide compensation for the Cooperative Market shops to start their business," says CM.
• Cabinet instructs the SMBR to protect the lands of the Malir Expressway so that no encroacher could dare to grab them.
• Cabinet approves to hand over Polytechnic Institute to SZABIST to operate it on PPP mode to provide best technical education. 

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Wednesday presided over a cabinet meeting which declared Bundal and Buddo Islands as "protected forests" and directed the Sindh Wildlife Department to notify the decision, Geo News reported. 

According to CM Shah, the provincial cabinet approved a procurement target of 1.4 MT of wheat at a support price of Rs2,200 per 40 kg bag for which Rs70 billion were approved. 

The food department was allowed to purchase bardana (sacks) to the extent of the assigned target at the ratio of 90% polypropylene bags and 10% jute bags if they are available in the market.

The CM directed the food department to set up their [procurement] centres in the last week of February so that procurement could be started right from March 1. “We are offering better support price; therefore, the growers must benefit from it,” he said.

Expressing solidarity with the shopkeepers of Cooperative Market and Victoria Centre who faced losses after their shops turned to ashes in a fire that erupted on November 14, the CM said that the cabinet has "approved an amount of Rs91,5230,000 to provide compensation for the shops to start their business".

According to the CM, the cabinet said that Pakistan Steel Mills authorities were not competent to dispose of their "extra lands", adding that the extra land surrendered would automatically stand reverted to the Sindh government. 

He further said that the cabinet has directed the revenue department to issue instructions to the sub-registrar not to register any land disposed of/sold by Pakistan Steel Mills. 

The cabinet also directed the chief secretary to implement the decisions of the Supreme Court in respect of KPT Housing Society and instructed the senior member board of revenue (SMBR) to protect the lands of the Malir Expressway so that no encroacher could dare to grab them.

The Home department told the cabinet that 2,113 posts of Grade BS-5 to BS-15, including 1,355 constables were vacant in prisons and they were facing problems due to a shortage of staff.

It was pointed out that the provincial cabinet in its meeting held on November 21, 2019, had approved IBA Sukkur as a testing agency for recruitment but IBA Sukkur has shown an inability to conduct body measurement and running tests.

The cabinet directed the Home Department to hire services of any other testing service through a competitive bidding process on the pattern as has been done by the Sindh police.

Talking about the Govt. Polytechnic Institute, the CM said that the institute requires Rs200 million, apart from recruitment of teaching staff and the cabinet approved a proposal to hand over the institute to SZABIST to operate it on PPP mode to provide the best technical education. 

Talking about the Matiari-Lahore High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Transmission Line Project, the provincial cabinet approved the pipeline to pass through Sindh. 

The cabinet also approved a request of the Home Department to provide an ambulance to Frontier Constabulary (FC).