KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presided over two separate meetings of the Planning and Development Board and agriculture department, and approved Rs7 billion for provision of seeds of wheat and oil crops to the growers hit by floods.
“We have to encourage the growers to prepare their flooded lands for Rabi crops; therefore we have to support them,” he said.
The meetings were also attended by Chief Minister’s Adviser on Agriculture Manzoor Wassan, Minister for Food and Excise Mukesh Chawla, Chairman for P&D Hassan Naqvi, PSCM Fayaz Jatoi, and Agriculture Secretary Aijaz Mahesar.
Mr Wassan said that around 369,400 hectares of land was ready for wheat cultivation. He added that the growers should be given seeds of wheat and oil crops for cultivation.
The chief minister said that he had already announced his decision to support the growers by providing them with seeds of wheat and oil crops. He approved an amount of Rs7 billion for the purpose and directed the irrigation department to strengthen its system for the provision of water.
The CM directed Mr Wassan to develop a mechanism for the distribution of seeds and present to him a report on the matter within a week for approval.
While presiding over the meeting of the P&D Board, Mr Shah directed its Chairman Hassan Naqvi to review the development portfolio of every department and identify the ongoing schemes adversely affected by the floods. “We have to repair the existing damaged infrastructure, including roads, buildings, bridges, and irrigation system,” he said.
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Mr Naqvi told the chief minister that in the ADP for 2022-23 Rs79.119 billion had been allocated for new schemes and Rs253.146 billion for the ongoing schemes.
It was pointed out that the chief minister had frozen all released funds, except for Karachi-based schemes, and allocated funds for human resources payments. Mr Shah said that no release would be made for new schemes.
He directed the chairman to determine the status of the schemes, including physical damage in percentages cost impact, and recommendation of the concerned department for release of funds if the work could be continued, and variation in the cost and scope of the scheme, or to suspend/freeze the allocated/released funds on the damaged schemes till their revision.
The chairman said that he would collect the details and would present the same to the chair within the next few days.
