NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti has urged Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to convene a meeting of the Federal committee on dispute over net-profit on hydropower generation between NWFP and the Federal government. "The sub-committee, constituted by the provincial government, had already prepared recommendations and awaiting the convening of the committee established by the Federal government to present them in the joint meeting."
NWFP Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussein while briefing media disclosed this after the meeting of the provincial cabinet here on Tuesday. The meeting of the provincial cabinet was held with Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti in the chair. All ministers of the provincial cabinet and administrative secretaries of all departments attended.
He said that the Chief Minister had written a letter to the Prime Minister for demanding convening of the meeting of the larger committee within one month. The minister, who was flanked by NWFP Minister for Science and Technology, Mohammad Ayub Khan and senior officials of the Department of Information, said that the stay granted by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the increase in the price of electricity in the province was still intact.
He said that the provincial government had filed a petition in the light of the higher price of electricity in the province than other federating units. The case, he stated was still in the court and they would fight till last in the interest of the people of the province.
The Prime Minister, he said, had assured uniform electricity tariff in the country, while on technical ground the price of commodity was higher than other provinces. The provincial government on these grounds had raised the matter with the Prime Minister, he added.
The provincial cabinet also approved draft of amendments to the Seed Act to allow private sector to sell and distribute seeds along with public sector in the province. The Federal government, he said, sent the draft.
The amendment would not only lessen the problems of the government in distribution of the seeds, but would also take benefits of the incentives under World Trade Organisation (WTO). Under the new law, the private seed distributor would be required to obtain a formal license from the Federal Seed Certificate and Registration Authority.
The distributor would be required to maintain standard of the seeds and in case of supplying substandard commodity, he would be liable to a fine of Rs 50, 000.
For repeated violation of standard, the distributor would have to pay a fine of Rs 0.1 million and on third conviction his certificate would be cancelled and he would be blacklisted.
The provincial cabinet attributed the acute shortage of urea in the province to the lacunas in the distribution system, and called for not only the restoration, but also for making the abolished Agricultural Model Services Centres effective.
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