NWFP extends freeze on 25 percent raise in abiyana for three years

The NWFP government on Thursday extended freeze on 25 percent annual increase in abiyana for a period of three years and constituted a cabinet committee to review the abiyana rates in other provinces and submit a report for bringing it at par with other parts of the country.
The decision was taken in a meeting of the provincial cabinet, which met here in Frontier House, Peshawar with Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani in the chair. All provincial ministers, administrative secretaries and inspector general of police attended the meeting.
Briefing the newsmen about decisions taken during the meeting, Provincial Minister for Information, Asif Iqbal Daudzai said the previous provincial government was agreed with 25 percent annual increase in abiyana after receiving loan from an international monetary institution.
He said that the provincial government three years back had freezed the increase in the abiyana and the meeting once again extended the decision for another period of three years. He said that the decision would benefit the farming community of the province.
The minister said that the decision had been taken to remove the discrepancy in the abiyana rate as compared to other three provinces in the country. He said that in Punjab per acre abiyana for Kharif was Rs 85 and Rs 50 for Rabi for all kinds of crops while in other provinces the abiyana rate for per acre sugarcane was Rs 624, in Sindh it is Rs 181.87 and in Balochistan Rs 198.
He said that the provincial cabinet also held detailed discussion on law and order situation, particularly in the context of the recent Charsadda and Peshawar bomb blasts. The provincial police chief, he said gave a detailed presentation on the police force and said that the total strength of police in the province was 35,000 with one constable for 624 people.
The provincial cabinet demanded of the federal government to fulfill a pledge made with the province by the former prime minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali for recruitment of 15,000 police personnel. Similarly, the provincial cabinet had also called for the repatriation of the 175 platoons of the Frontier Constabulary (FC) deployed outside the province.
The cabinet called for immediate withdrawal of the Frontier Constabulary to the province to deploy it on bordering areas with tribal belt and keep vigil on the miscreants and anti-social elements entering to settled areas of the province.
He said that during the three-and-half years government of MMA in the province, the law and order situation was better than other provinces. However, he said during the last quarter of 2006 and 2007 the law and order situation was intentionally deteriorated to defame the provincial government on the eve of general elections.
Daudzai said that in some southern districts the lawlessness was sectarianism-related within Bannu, DI Khan and Lakki while in Tank, Talibanisation culture was promoted to defame the provincial government. In Malakand Division, he said the defunct TNSM was reorganised and in central districts of Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda and Nowshera CD shops were threatened and blasted.