Sindh interim cabinet okays Rs4.5bn for repatriation of aliens

Sindh caretaker chief minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar on Tuesday decided to allocate Rs4.5 billion for the repatriation of illegal immigrants from the province. He also approved retiring liabilities worth Rs25 billion incurred under the wheat subsidy programme, and fixing Rs32,000 as the minimum monthly wage for labourers.

At the outset of the interim cabinet’s meeting that Baqar presided over at the CM House, the advisory group censured Israel’s inhuman attacks on Gaza and the killing of innocent Palestinians.

On the matter of repatriating illegal aliens, the home secretary said the federal government has decided to deport all illegal foreigners starting November 1 (today), adding that the Ministry of Interior has shared the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan outlining the necessary actions to be taken by all the provinces.

It was pointed out that while approving the plan, the caretaker federal cabinet decided that the provinces would bear the cost of the logistics, but the issue would still be discussed at the appropriate stage.

The meeting was told that Rs4.5 billion is required to repatriate illegal immigrants from the Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Shaheed Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas and Larkana divisions. After some discussion, the interim cabinet approved the funds outside the budget allocations.

Baqar directed the caretaker home minister to provide all the necessary support to the police and the district administrations for the repatriation of illegal aliens.

On the matter of wheat, the food secretary said that the wheat procurement target was set at 1.4 tonnes in February, adding that 777,258 tonnes was procured and the carry-forward stock was 42,525 tonnes.

In this way, he pointed out, the total wheat stock available with the interim provincial government comes to 819,803 tonnes, which shows a shortfall of 580,197 tonnes.

He said the province has already demanded 500,000 tonnes of wheat from the Centre, and it has started arriving. Now the Sindh Food Department has to release the wheat to the flour mills, for which the caretaker cabinet needs to approve the release policy and issue price, he added.

The advisory group decided to release the wheat to the flour mills at Rs10,500 per 100kg bag starting November 10. After some discussion and deliberation, they decided to fix the wheat support price for crops 2023-24 at Rs4,000 per 40kg.

On the matter of retiring the wheat loan, the interim cabinet was told that the food department procures wheat according to the target and support price fixed by the advisory group or the government.

The department borrows from banks to finance state trading of wheat. These loans are backed by cash credit limit or federal guarantees issued by the Centre on a quarterly basis.

On the cabinet’s directives, the food department prepared a debt retirement plan with the finance department’s help. With the approval of the previous advisory group or government, the finance department decided to conduct 10-year audits of the food department’s expenditures to streamline state trading activities.

The stock position on the ground would be audited by the deputy commissioners concerned. A CFO would also be appointed for the internal audit, the accounting of the food department and the surveillance of trading activities to stem further debt accumulation.

Baqar, in consultation with the caretaker cabinet, decided to allocate Rs25 billion for retiring unsecured liabilities in 2023-24 for procuring wheat, and ordered releasing Rs5 billion immediately for paying the banks.

On the matter of the Sakrand shoot-out, the advisory group approved Rs8 million as compensation for each of the families of the deceased, Rs2 million for every injured and free education for one child of every deceased.

The interim cabinet also approved Rs32,000 as the minimum monthly wage. It also amended the Sindh Prohibition of Non-degradable Plastic Products (Manufacturing, Sale & Usage) Rules, 2014.

The amendment in Sub-rule (5) of Rule 3 reads: “No scheduled plastic product shall be made in black colour, except for garbage sacks, and the recycled scheduled plastic products shall be marked as recycled plastic, unsafe for contact with food.”

The health department requested approval for transferring Rs5.1 billion to the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation & Coordination for the centralised procurement of vaccines and logistics for the Expanded Programme on Immunisation during 2023-24 due to the dollar variation. The advisory group approved the proposal.