Sindh sets up cell to smoothen devolution

KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to set up a provincial implementation cell to deal with the post-devolution problems that will come up for the ministries and divisions, which will be shifted from the federal level to the Sindh government, in light of the 18th constitutional amendment.

The inter-provincial coordination department has sent a summary to Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah for approval, said sources on Tuesday. The 18th amendment implementation commission has been working on devolution and set a deadline of November 30 to complete the process. They are working to hand over five ministries to the provinces: Population Welfare, Special Initiatives, Youth Affairs, Zakat and Ushr and Local Government and Rural Development.

According to the summary, the inter-provincial coordination secretary will head the cell that will include a legal consultant, director or financial analyst, two coordinators and four deputy coordinators. This cell will work under the department and will come up with the financial mechanism, rules, regulations, administrative structure and for the ministries and divisions.

About Rs25.02 million will be needed to pay for the cell’s initial nine months from October 1 to June 30, 2011.

Initially, the cell would work as a temporary body but the chief minister can extend its tenure or make it permanent.

The proposal was presented to the chief secretary at a meeting on July 15. The chief secretary created a committee to review the document. “After the chief secretary’s approval, we worked on the proposal and forwarded it to the chief minister,” said IPC Secretary Mushtaq Ahmed Sheikh.

The implementation commission held 19 meetings over the last six months. The second phase will end by the first week of February 2011, while the remaining ministries and divisions will be devolved from February to June 30, 2011 to meet the constitutional deadline.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2010.