Sindh govt bans use of polythene bags

karachi — The Sindh cabinet has decided to impose a ban on the use of polythene bags, said Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister Murtaza Wahab.

Briefing media about the cabinet meeting, the adviser said the government has decided to implement the Sindh Environmental Protection Act under which non-degradable polythene bags could not be purchased, used, manufactured or imported.

Murtaza Wahab said the ban would be imposed in phases in three months. In the first phase, ban will be implemented in Sukkur while in the next phase ban will be implemented in Karachi and Hyderabad regions and the rest of Sindh

He said that traders involved in the manufacturing of polythene bags would be engaged and added that the federal government would also be approached to increase import duty on polythene bags to discourage their use.

The cabinet also approved the formation of a committee to review the draft of police postings/ transfer rules.

The cabinet also approved the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Institute of Trauma Bill. It also approved the board of Sindh Child Protection Authority.

Murtaza Wahab said the Sindh cabinet has imposed a ban on the purchase of new vehicles for three years, adding that the Sindh government wanted to introduce a policy in which a 17-grade officer would be offered a vehicle on lease. The officer should pay its installments and on the payment of installments, the officer will be given ownership of the vehicle.

The officer would also be responsible for the maintenance of the vehicle, he added.

Regarding the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Trauma Institute, Murtaza Wahab said that the institute has been approved by the cabinet and added that it was now authorised to initiate postgraduateprogrammes like FSPS, MS, MD, PhD in various fields. —