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Sindh PA adopts bill on public-private partnership

By Habib Khan Ghori

KARACHI: Of the 808 villages surveyed till 1996 in the city, only 339 were sanctioned, 154 did not fall within the purview of the Gothabad Act while 315 others remained unsanctioned.

Providing the statistics in response to a query of MPA Humera Alwani during the Question Hour in the Sindh Assembly on Thursday, Sindh Minister for Revenue Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar said that the 315 villages would be sanctioned within a week.

He said that the villages remained unsanctioned during the previous regime and it was during the Pakistan People’s Party government that work was started to provide basic facilities there. He said the surveys of villages had already been completed and comments prepared. “After the assembly session is over, these villages will be sanctioned within a week,” he said.

“It is our responsibility to regularise all old villages/goths,” he said, adding that 154 villages which were out of the purview of the Gothabad Act fell in urban areas and would be sanctioned by the land utilisation department.

He made it clear that villages were not notified for regularisation on the basis of language, because the PPP did not believe in that. He pointed out that the old villages had a mixed population.

In reply to another question, he said that Katchi Abadis were the new settlements on government land without having basic facilities, while the concept of villages was centuries old.

Answering a question about the disaster management authority, Mr Dahar informed the house that the services, general administration and coordination department (SGA&CD) had already notified the provincial disaster management authority with the approval of Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah vide its Notification No SO(C-IV) SGA&CD/4 28/07, dated October 12, 2009. He explained that terms and conditions for the authority were given in Section 15 of the National Disaster Management Ordinance, 2007.

As far as district-wise working was concerned, every district had its own district disaster management authority, also notified by the SGA&CD vide its Notification No SO(C-I) SGA&CD/4-28/07, dated September 10, 2007. The terms and conditions of the district disaster management authorities had also been spelt out in that notification, he added.

In reply to another question by Ms Alwani, he said that no initiative had been undertaken yet in partnership with the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund. However, the provincial disaster management authority was working in close collaboration with other stakeholders such as academia, the national disaster management authority and others.

Postings, transfers in revenue dept

The revenue minister, in reply to another question of Ms Alwani, gave details of the 15 officers/officials who were posted in the revenue department on a deputation/detainment basis. He said that all those 15 officers/ officials were repatriated to their parent departments on the instructions given vide a letter dated April 17, 2009, of the SGA&CD.

He said it was a fact that Kashmir Dharejo and Ismail Jagirani, both schoolteachers in the education department, were posted on deputation by the SGA&CD in the revenue department. However, both the officials had been repatriated to their parent department.

He said that the transfers and postings of officers in BS-17 and above were dealt by the services, general administration and coordination department and not by revenue department. However, he added, a list of district-wise postings and transfers of Mukhtiarkars (BS-16) made between April 15, 2008 and June 30, 2009 had been prepared and placed on the table of the house.

He claimed that all of those postings and transfers had been made on administrative grounds.

In cases where corruption charges were reported, they were removed from lucrative posts and sidelined.

“Our effort is to weed out corruption,” the minister said and sought cooperation and help of MPAs for this purpose. He told them to visit the revenue offices and monitor the working of officials and help him in taking action wherever corruption was found involved.

Replying to a question of Arif Mustafa Jatoi, the revenue minister affirmed that officers in BS-16 and above were eligible for re-employment according to rules/policy and re-employments allowed by the chief minister.

He said the revenue department had allowed re-employment to only one Mukhtiarkar, Nizamuddin Thatiar, for two years with the chief minister’s approval.

In reply to a question of Nadeem Ahmed Bhutto, he pointed out that information regarding the posting of Mukhtiarkar Khokhar as deputy district officer (general administration) in Sukkur pertained to the services, general administration and coordination department.

He said the sub-registrars who were awaiting postings on administration grounds had been posted.
Source: Dawn
Date:2/19/2010