KARACHI - Sindh Minister for Information, Local Government, Housing &Town Planning, Religious Affairs, Forest and Wildlife Syed Nasir Hussain Shah on Wednesday presided over a review meeting of the annual development programs of the Local Government department.
The meeting was attended by Secretary Local Government Roshan Ali Sheikh and other senior officers of Local Government Department. Secretary Local Government Department gave a detailed briefing to the Minister for Local Government regarding the Annual Development Projects of Local Government Department.
Speaking on the occasion, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah directed the officers of the LG Department to make sure that the process of opening and awarding tenders for the development projects of the Local Government Department was transparent from the beginning to the end, adding that, there should not be any undue delay in the process.
The provincial Minister for local government added that there should be no legal complication or inconvenience in the tender process. He said that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah wanted transparency to be given special attention in all these processes.
He was informed that in the year 2020, 21, total 97 development schemes would be completed out of which 25 schemes wete related to water and sewerage, while 63 were related to roads. Apart from these development schemes, six mega schemes would also be part of the financial year, while, three of them had been completed, he was further informed.
Syed Nasir Hussain Shah directed the officers to ensure timely completion of all these development projects in a transparent manner. The Provincial Minister for Local Government told the officials of the Local Government Department that undue delay and non-transparency in the completion of these development projects would not be tolerated.
Meanwhile, Sindh Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that the Sindh Government would abide by the decisions of the National Coordination Committee and all educational institutions in the province, marriage halls, gyms, sports clubs, and all other business activities which had not been allowed by the NCC would be kept closed.
The provincial Information Minister said that intercity transport in the province had also been allowed to resume under Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
He said that the pandemic of coronavirus had started spreading rapidly in the country and the situation was deteriorating day by day. Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that until the coronavirus vaccine was invented, everyone of us would have to live with this pandemic.
The provincial Information Minister said that people were not ready to follow the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and the health advisory which was causing the problem. “When we decided to lock down in Sindh province, we were criticized in various ways, but later our decisions were implemented across the country,” he said.
He said that the steps taken by the Sindh government were followed delayed across the country,adding that, during that time, travellers from abroad kept coming to Pakistan which were not properly screened due to which the coronavirus spreaded across the country. He said that the Sindh Government made the decision of lockdown in the province with great difficulty, after which the Sindh government faced a lot of criticism by the federal government, adding that they accepted the criticism while giving priority to saving the lives of the people.
The provincial Information Minister said that if strict lockdown across the country had been imposed on time, the situation in the country would had been different today with regard to the number of active cases of coronavirus in the country. He said that timely steps of Sindh Government were appreciated all over the world including by World Health Organization. Syed Nasir Hussain Shah asked the people to fully implement the Standard Operating Procedures so that they could save themselves and their loved ones from this insidious disease and they could get rid of the pandemic soon.