Sindh cabinet approves draft bill for Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation

In an over-five-hour lengthy session on Monday, the Sindh cabinet approved the draft law for establishing the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation with the mayor as the head of its board.

The cabinet also decided to start wheat procurement on February 15 at a rate of Rs4,000 per 40 kilogrammes, approved Rs58.7 billion for flood relief work, enhanced the scope of the Rapid Response Force and created the crowd management unit to respond during violent incidents in the province causing public disorder. The cabinet meeting was held at the Sindh Chief Minister House with CM Syed Murad Ali Shah in chair. The session was attended by provincial ministers, advisers, special assistants, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput and others.

At the outset of the meeting, the cabinet condemned the terrorist attack in Peshawar that claimed over 82 innocent lives and vowed to eradicate terrorists and their facilitators in the country. The CM and his cabinet members also expressed solidarity with the people of Turkiye whose southern areas have been hit by a deadly earthquake.

The cabinet decided to dispatch 100,000 blankets to Turkiye for earthquake-affected people. It also appreciated the Sindh CM’s visit to Peshawar where he visited the blast site and a hospital to give consolation to the injured. The meeting also endorsed the CM’s announcement of providing Rs1 million compensation for the families of the persons killed in the blast and Rs500,000 for the injured.

Water corporation

After a thorough discussion, the cabinet approved the draft of the Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation Bill 2022 so that it could be tabled before the provincial legislature.

The draft bill has been prepared to establish the Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation with the responsibility of planning and execution of bulk production, supply and distribution of potable water in Karachi.

According to the draft law, the corporation will have a board whose chairperson will be the Karachi mayor. In case there is no elected mayor, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) administrator will be the chairman of its board, which will also have seven ex-officio and nine non-official members.

The board will develop and approve strategic plans for water delivery and approve the budget of Karachi’s water utility. The corporation will be managed by a chief executive officer appointed by the board for a period of four years. It will also have a chief operating officer, chief financial officer, chief internal audit officer, and chief IT officer.

Flood relief

The general administration department told the cabinet that during the floods and unprecedented rains, Rs58.7 billion had been released, including Rs27.648 billion for relief and rehabilitation work, Rs8.390 billion for subsidies to farmers for the Rabi crop 2022-23, Rs1 billion for fodder, Rs14.15 billion for repair of irrigation system, Rs3.926 billion to the KMC and District Municipal Corporations to repair bus routes in Karachi and other works, and Rs985 million for purchase of medicines.

The CM directed his adviser on agriculture to coordinate with the federal government that had been providing Rs8.39 billion for a subsidy to farmers for the Rabi crop so that the same could be distributed via Benazir Income Support Programme in time.

The cabinet approved the amount of Rs25.036 billion to be released onward to the relevant departments for relief and rehabilitation works in Sindh.

Domicile issue

The cabinet took up the issue of recent recruitment in the police department in which some candidates had submitted fake certificates of domicile.

The CM said that the recruitment was made purely on merit only for locals. He directed the chief secretary to get all the certificates of domiciles of the newly-recruited cops verified so that bona fide residents of Sindh could be recruited against the vacant police posts.

New police unit

The provincial cabinet was told that the Sindh inspector general of police had sent a summary for the expansion of the Rapid Response Force (RRF) and establishment of a new unit — Crowd Management Unit (CMU).

The RRF is an anti-terrorist and anti-dacoits force established in 2009 operating throughout Sindh. In addition to its core responsibilities, the RRF also provides security to vital installations in the province.

The CM was told that the expansion of the RRF to the entire province would enable the district police and other law enforcement agencies to respond quickly in case of any emergency situation.

It was discussed that a new unit was required to respond professionally during a violent public disorder, and the CMU had been proposed to prevent loss of lives and damage to properties and manage unruly crowds.

The CM told the home department that in order to avoid financial implications for the expansion of the RRF, new positions should be created by re-appropriating positions of the Sindh Reserve Police (SRP).

The CM also approved the proposal to constitute the CMU as a separate force of the Sindh police to deal with mob violence.

Wheat procurement

The cabinet decided that wheat procurement in the new crop season would start on February 15 at Rs4,000 per 40kg. The target for procurement would be set in the next cabinet meeting.