KARACHI – The new Sindh cabinet in its maiden meeting has taken importantdecisions over the provincial issues.

The cabinet has declared Thar and parts of Umerkot as drought-hit areas,and also decided to allocate land in Karachi for graveyards as well as toestablish a desalination plant in the city.

The newly-appointed eight ministers and two advisors along with the chiefsecretary, Sindh police chief and other provincial secretaries attended themeeting, which was chaired by CM Murad Ali Shah.

Discussing the budget, CM Shah said that the last PPP government had passeda three-month budget in May to enable the caretaker government to make thenecessary expenditures up to September.

It was now time for the new government to make the budget for the remainingyear before the end of September and present it in the house, he said. Shahsaid the province’s financial situation looked grim since they had not yetreceived the funds that they were expecting from the federal government.

Raising the issue of the use of the Governor House, cabinet membersinformed that the federal government had decided to vacate the GovernorHouses in all four provinces. Therefore, the necessary decision needs to betaken in this regard.

The CM then asked the Board of Revenue’s Senior Member Iqbal Durani as towho held the title of the property of the Sindh Governor House. He wasinformed that Governor House and its property belonged to the Sindhgovernment.

The cabinet proposed that the house be converted into a museum, while itsland should be turned into a public park. Taking about new water supplyschemes in Karachi, the chief minister directed the local governmentminister to start work on a war footing to install a desalination plant inKarachi so that water scarcity could be resolved as soon as possible.