Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has decided to awarded 60 days remission to all prisoners undergoing life sentence on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr. He has also ordered the release of the prisoners qualifying for remission before Eid so that they could celebrate it with their families.
The remission would benefit as many as 3613 prisoners, out of which over 100 would be released from different jails.
During his visit to Central Prison Karachi on May 28, the chief minister had directed the Home Department to send him a reference regarding the award of special remission to the convicted prisoners languishing in Sindh prisons.
Therefore, the Home Department sent a summary to CM Shah for remission, which was approved on Saturday.
The special remission approved by the CM under Rule 216 of Pakistan Prisons Rules, 1978 in the sentences of imprisonment for different categories is as follows:
Special remission of 60 days for all convicts, except the condemned prisoners and except those convicted of murder, espionage, subversion, anti-state activities, terrorist activities, Zina, robbery, dacoity and those undergoing sentences under foreign Act, 1946, if they have undergone two third of their substantive sentence of imprisonment.
Special remission of 60 days for all the convicts of life imprisonment, except those convicted for murder, espionage, anti-terrorism, anti-state activities, sectarianism, Zina, robbery, dacoity, kidnapping/abduction and terrorist acts, if they have undergone two third of their substantive sentences of imprisonment.
Special remission of 60 days per year from the date of sentence for male prisoners who are 65 years of age or above and have undergone at least one-third of their substantive sentence, except those involved in a culpable homicide and those involved in terrorist acts, as defined in the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.
Special remission of 60 days per year from the date of sentence for male prisoners who are 60 years of age or above and have undergone at least one-third of their sentence except those involved in a culpable homicide and those involved in terrorist acts.
Special remission of 60 days per year from the date of sentence for female prisoners who are 60 years of age or above and have undergone at least one-third of their sentence except those involved in a culpable homicide and terrorist act.
Special remission of 60 days per year from the date of sentence for female prisoners who are accompanying children and are serving a sentence of imprisonment for crimes, except those who are convicted on charges of culpable homicide and terrorist acts.
Special remission of 60 days per year from the date of sentence for juvenile convicts (under 18 years of age) who have served one-third of their substantive sentence, except those in culpable homicide, terrorist acts, Zina, robbery, dacoity, kidnapping/abduction and anti-state activities
In a similar development, CM Shah, on Saturday, remarked that the completion of Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) scheme for the provision of water to Thar Coal Block-II was most important for further investment in the energy sector.
Therefore, appropriate technology for pre-treatment such as Reverse Osmosis (RO) or Membrane Bio Reactor (MBR) should be selected as soon as possible, he maintained.
He was presiding over a meeting regarding the installation of pre-treatment for RO plant at Nabisar for Thar Coal Block-II here at Committee No.1 of the CM House.
The meeting was attended by Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh; CM’s Special Assistant on Irrigation, Ashfaq Memon; Planning and Development (P&D) Chairperson Naheed Shah; Energy Secretary Musadiq Khan; Finance Secretary Najam Shah; Irrigation Secretary Dr Saeed Mangnijo; Hub Power Company (HUBCO) CEO Khalid Masroor; Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) CEO Abul Fazal Rizvi, TEL & ThalNova CEO Saleemullah Memon; Engro Energy CEO Ahsan Zafar Syed; Thar Coal Project Irrigation Superintendent Engineer Haji Khan Jamali and other concerned officers.
The CM was told that the pre-treatment scheme at Nabisar for Thar Coal Bloc-II was approved by the government at the cost of Rs 3.25 billion.
The pre-treatment scheme was prepared to feed 60 cusecs of raw water to RO plant.
Its design was based on ultra-filtration.
Later, work was stopped on the scheme while a revised scheme of Rs14.3 billion was prepared on the basis of Membrane Bio Reactor (MBR) technology, designed for an inflow of 75 cusecs, as requested by the SECM and power companies.
The Planning & development department raised serious objections against the rise in the cost from Rs 3.25 billion to Rs 14.325 billion.
Therefore, the matter was referred to the provincial cabinet.
On the recommendation of the cabinet committee, NESPAK was hired as a third-party consultant for the recommendation of technology and financial review.
Now, the power companies have requested that due to the urgency for the operation of power units updated Ultrafiltration technology for the discharge of 75 cusecs raw water may be approved and save the time required by the consultant.
The water quality required for the pre-treatment plant should have certain parameters such as biochemical oxygen demand (BODs), chemical oxygen demand (COD) suspended solids (SS), total nitrogen (TN), ammonia nitrogen (NH4+), feed water fouling index, free chlorine, Iron and manganese.
The chief minister directed Minister Energy Imtiaz Shaikh to call a joint meeting of Power Companies, SECM and NESPAk to discuss the urgency of the selection of the technology. “I am also of the view that we should resolve this matter so that operation of power plants being installed there can be started,” he said.
Shah said that major achievement had been made by launching 660 MW Thar coal power plants, but “we have to expand this generation by installing more plants. He added Thar was the future of Pakistan and they had to work on it more effectively and efficiently.
