Every motorbike must have side mirrors for safety, decides cabinet

The Sindh cabinet on Tuesday made it binding on every motorcyclist in the province to install side mirrors on their two-wheelers to ensure road safety during their rides.

Information Minister Saeed Ghani was briefing the media at the provincial assembly about the decisions taken by the cabinet’s meeting held with Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in chair. Ghani said that keeping in view the important public issue of road traffic accidents, the cabinet has approved the proposal to amend the Motor Vehicle Rules 1969.

He said that after the amendment, besides wearing a helmet, every motorcyclist in the province would have to install side mirrors on their motorbikes to ensure their safety as well as of others on roads. The Sindh Transport Department had put forward the proposal in view of the fact that the safety of road users continues to remain in danger because motorbikes lack side mirrors.

Wheat stocks

Food Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla told the cabinet that over 1.2 MMT of wheat stocks are available at the warehouses of the food department. The food department releases wheat on October 15 every year.

He said the Punjab government has started releasing wheat at a rate of Rs1,950 per 40kg. The CM said that fixing a uniform wheat rate will be helpful in stabilising Atta prices in the country. Therefore, the cabinet approved the proposal of releasing wheat from October 15 at a rate of Rs1,950 per 40kg.

Drains

Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said Karachi had witnessed unprecedented rainfall during last year’s monsoon season, which caused massive urban flooding. He added that the major cause behind the urban flooding was the choking of the storm water drains due to the vast presence of human settlements around the major nalas in the city.

He said that in the Provincial Coordination & Implementation Committee’s fourth meeting on December 28 last year, the body finalised its recommendations, which included overviewing Karachi Transformation Projects, detailed financial outlay, way forward for restoring drains and henceforth schedule of release of funds.

He added that it was also decided that the resettlement support would be applicable to the occupants of houses only, while in the case of partial demolition (up to 30 percent) of structures that did not warrant displacement of the occupants, the resettlement compensation would not be paid.