KARACHI                      -              Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah paid a surprise visit to the offices of different secretaries here on Monday morning at around 10 am, and checked their and the staff members attendance.

The CM started his visit from the home department where he found all the officers, including the secretary, absent. The chief minister expressed his displeasure.

The private secretary of the home secretary told the chief minister that the secretary was in the court in connection with a case. To this, the CM replied that if the secretary was not present, where was the rest of staff? “Almost all the additional secretaries, deputy secretaries and section officers are absent,” he said, and directed his principal secretary to ask the home secretary to submit to him a report on the matter.

When the chief minister visited the office of Agriculture Department, almost all the staff, including the department’s secretary, was absent. This annoyed the CM, who then directed the concerned official to submit to him a report on the matter.

Murad’s next stopover was the office of labour department followed by his surprise visits to the transport and irrigation departments, housed in Tughlaq House.

There, too, almost everybody, except the labour secretary, was absent. The CM talked to the Secretary Irrigation Saeed Mangnijo, who was away for a meeting with his minister. The chief secretary directed him to send him a report on the absentees of his office.

Same was the situation when the CM visited the office of education department as all the officers were also absent there. He went from room to room, but hardly any section officer or any senior officer was present. He directed his principal secretary to compile a report and submit to him.

At P&D, the chief minister was received by department Chairman M. Waseem, who took him round various rooms of his floor where the former found most of the chiefs and members absent. The chief minister directed the P&D chairman to submit to him a detailed report on the absentees.

Before returning to his office, the chief minister visited the office of Local Government Department, and there too found all the staff, mostly the senior officers absent from their duties. The secretary local government was in the court in connection with a case.

The chief minister visited the bio-metric unit, and asked the personnel deputed there to send him a list of the staff members, who were present and those who were late. After having returned to his office at 7th floor of New Sindh Secretariat, the CM held a meeting with Secretary General Administration Khalid Hyder Shah.

He also instructed him to compile a detailed report on the officers present at New and Old Secretariats, and submit it to him. The chief minister, along with P&D Chairman Mohammad Waseem, visited the under-construction car parking area situated between SM Law College and SM College near the Sindh Secretariat.

He also inspected the sitting arrangements made there. The area has been declared a recreational place where huge rush of people could be seen at tuck shops, coffee houses and fast food restaurants. In the center of the each and every rectangular bench has been given a tree so that the visitor could sit under the shadow.

The chief minister directed Chairman P&D to expedite completion of the parking and recreational area.