LAHORE   -  The Punjab government on Tuesday posted Capt (retired), Saqib Zafar, Secretary Livestock & Dairy Development Department as Additional Chief Secretary South Punjab against a vacant post. 

He will be heading the new administrative set up in Multan and Bahawalpur which is not functional as yet mainly owing to government’s indecision over the extent of administrative and financial autonomy to be granted to the southern region. 

Following the annulment of recent notifications, the government is still in the process of making new rules of business for South Punjab Secretariat. The Chief Minister has assigned this task to a ministerial committee to make recommendations in this regard. 

In a related development, the third meeting of the ministerial committee on South Punjab was held on Tuesday with Punjab Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht in the chair. It formulated a number of recommendations to determine the powers and improve the performance of South Punjab Civil Secretariat.

It recommended the establishment of a fully functional Secretariat in phases given the complexities of the whole exercise. At the initial stage, the committee recommended that central departments will provide services from the Lahore Secretariat. The committee will decide which of the central departments will be transferred to the South Punjab Secretariat at which stage. At this stage, the Departments of Finance, Home, P&D and S&GAD will not be devolved. 

 “Until the completion of the Secretariat, changes in the administrative structure are a routine matter”, the Finance Minister told the meeting.  

The meeting decided that separate quota of government jobs will be allotted for the people of South Punjab. The quota will be determined on the basis of the proportion of population in the province. The ministerial committee also recommended a separate administrative zone for South Punjab for uniform development in the province.

The Minister directed the Departments of Law, Finance and Planning and Development Board to make amendments in the laws relating to separate quotas of jobs and preparation of separate annual development programmes for South Punjab.  

The Minister informed the meeting that all the departments related to education, health and agriculture were being represented in the South Punjab Secretariat. The Punjab government will provide full technical assistance to all the relocated departments in South Punjab to improve the stability and efficiency of the empowered Secretariat, he said.  

The provincial minister further stated that approval for separate quotas in government jobs would also be sought from the provincial cabinet.

 “For the first time in history, the colour fencing of the budget reserved for South Punjab has been ensured with the support of the Cabinet. 

The establishment of a separate secretariat is continuation of it”, the Finance Minister said while addressing the meeting.

Other participants in the meeting included Law Minister Raja Basharat, Agriculture Minister Hussain Jahanian Gardezi, Energy Minister Akhtar Malik, Transport Minister Jahanzeb Khan Khichi, Livestock Minister Mohsin Leghari, Sardar Hasnain Dareshk and secretaries of relevant departments.