KARACHI: The provincial cabinet of Sindh in its around five hours prolonged sitting, approved important water act, devolution of Sindh Building Control Authority to the divisional level, ratified Pak army requirement in support of civil administration, upgraded posts of town officers from Grade BS-11 to BS-16 and approved Rs1 million compensation for government employees dying due to coronavirus.
This decision was taken in the meeting held under the chairmanship of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah here at the CM House. The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, advisors, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah and other concerned secretaries. Sindh Water Act: The local government department presented Sindh Water act 2020 in the cabinet. It has 11 chapters and three scheduled.
Water Commission: Under the draft act, Sindh water Resource Commission has been established under the chief ministers. Chief secretary will be its vice chairman, provincial ministers - finance, irrigation, environment, PHED, agriculture, industries, local government, forest and health would be its members.
Chairman P&D and water experts would also be its board members. The powers and duties of the commission include water conservation, redistribution, augmentation of water resources in the province. It would be authorized to allocate water resources for domestic, agricultural, ecological, industrial or other purposes. It will also be its duty to maintain, improve and develop wildlife and fisheries in bodies of water from which water is drawn or is discharged.
Water & Sewerage Service: In chapter three of the water act, Sindh Water Services regulatory Authority (SWSRA) has been created with the powers to ensure that the duties and functions of water service providers are discharged properly.
To ensure that the duties and functions of sewerage services providers are discharged in accordance with the law, the SWSRA would have the powers to approve, determine or revise tariffs for water and sewerage service providers.
The government may appoint a company, a local government or a statutory authority to be the water service provider or sewerage Service Provider for any area. In the draft act regulations for preventing contamination of water have been suggested.
Subsidy to farmers: The agriculture department told the meeting that the federal government has announced a subsidy package for farmers during Kharif 2021 for fertilizers (DAP), cotton seed and white-fly. The subsidy on Fertilizers (DAP) for rice and cotton has been offered for 70 percent of the total area under cultivation at a rate of Rs 1,500 per acre in which the federal government would pay 75 percent share and Sindh government share would be 25 percent.
The federal government would pay Rs2.7 billion while Sindh government would have to pay 902 million. Subsidy on cotton seed has been offered for 66 percent of the total area under cultivation at a rate of Rs1200 per acre.
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