Cabinet approves Rs3b for repair of schools hosting polling stations

Another Rs357m approved to strengthen Rangers operational capacity

KARACHI:

The caretaker cabinet, in a fast-track session, took up 24 agendas in a two-hour sitting on Friday, including repairs of schools where polling stations will be set up for the February 8 general elections.

The meeting chaired by Caretaker CM Maqbool Baqar also took important decisions such as recruiting Assistant Sub-inspectors (ASIs) through a public service commission and obtaining a Rs11.97 billion loan to execute flood protection sector projects and release of Rs357 million to strengthen the capacity of the Rangers.

The School Education and Literacy Department told the cabinet that deputy commissioners and executive engineers of concerned districts conducted the identification of schools to be used as polling stations for the provision of missing facilities.

The committees identified 9,901 schools, including 1,015 in Karachi, 4520 in Hyderabad and 4,366 in Sukkur which needed to be repaired along with provision of missing facilities. The budget proposed for repairing and maintaining 9,901 schools has been worked out at Rs3.3 billion. The cabinet approved the proposal.

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The Home Department briefing the cabinet said that the police department has sent a requisition for general recruitment against 1046 posts of ASIs through the Sindh Public Service Commission.

The Sindh government has set intermediate or high school (grade XII) as the basic educational qualification for recruitment to the post of ASIs and since then the recruitment have been made as per the same criteria. The cabinet fixed the standard of qualification for ASI as graduation and their recruitment would be made through Sindh Public Service Commission.

Pakistan Rangers: The home department told the cabinet that Pakistan Rangers have requested for provision of Rs357 million for upgrading riot control measures by equipping them with water cannons, quick response force vehicles and reliable communication equipment.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2023.