KP Cabinet extends partial lockdown till April 30

F.P. Report

PESHAWR: A special meeting of the Provincial Cabinet was held here on Wednesday with Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the chair at Civil Secretariat Peshawar.

The meeting reviewed in detail the latest corona situation across the province and discussed matters related to the implementation of the decisions taken in the meeting of National Coordination Committee held the other day, and a number of important decisions were taken to this effect.

The meeting was given detail briefing by the relevant departments about district wise figures of corona cases, steps being taken to enhance the testing capacity for corona patients, supply and distribution of necessary medical equipments to the districts, implementation status of the lockdown measures and many other related matters.

Addressing the meeting, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan announced two months waver off in the rents of shops and other properties of his ownership and urged upon the other member of the cabinet and well off people to do the same in order to give maximum relief to the vulnerable segments of society facing financial crunches in the prevailing situations.

The Chief Minister highly lauded the Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary, Secretary Relief, Secretary Home and the entire team of Health Department for their tireless efforts to effectively deal with the corona pandemic. He directed the health authorities to take necessary measures to ensure the provision of Personal Protective Equipments to the frontline health workers in all the districts of the province.

Briefing the media about the decisions taken in the cabinet meeting Advisor to Chief Minister on Information, Ajmal Wazir told that the cabinet had decided to extend the partial lockdown up to 30th April, however keeping in view the financial crunches faced by the daily wagers, exemptions will be given in some selective areas in order to enable the daily wagers earn their livelihood.

“All educational institutions will remain closed until 30th May as notified earlier, bane on all types of private and officials functions and sports activities will continue till further orders, inter district transport will remain suspended until 30th April whereas intra district transport will also remain suspended until 30th April with few exemptions,” Ajmal Wazir told and added that the exemptions in intra district transport will apply to private vehicles, Rickshaws and Vehicles transporting labourers.

The Advisor further informed that construction sectors and allied facilities including bricks, sand, fiberglass, building safety materials, steels, wood work, tiles, water supply materials, cement, hardware and electric shops etc would be opened subject to the strict implementation of guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures.

“The cabinet decided to give a waver off in 15% provincial tax levied on the retailer shops working as point of sale for the distribution of cash under the Ihsaas Emergency Cash Program,” Ajmal Wazir further informed adding that the cabinet has decided to constitute a high powered cabinet committee comprising provincial ministers Taimoor Khan Jhagra, Shaukat Yousafzai, Sultan Khan, Shah Muhammad and Advisor to CM Ajmal Wazir and Abdul Kareem Khan to engage with traders and transporters to take them into confidence regarding the prevailing situation. The Advisor also informed that the cabinet had approved honorarium at 1200 per day for the Muawin Qazis in Malakand Division and added that the cabinet also decided to extend the Locust Emergency already enforced in some high risk districts to the entire province. Earlier the Chief Minister also chaired an important meeting of the Provincial Task Force on Corona.

The meeting was informed that an exponential increase was being reported in positive corona cases in the provincial capital and there is a risk of its mass scale outbreak turning the city into an epicenter of corona outbreak for the entire province.

The meeting was attended by the relevant Provincial Ministers, Corps Commander Peshawar Lt. Gen. Nauman Mahmood, Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other Civil and Military high ups. While showing its serious concern on the exponential increase of corona cases in the provincial capital the meeting decided to evolve a new and effective strategy to handle the situation and to strictly implement the social distancing measures in the city.

The meeting urged upon the people to limit themselves to their houses and to avoid unnecessary movement in the city.