Farmers of erstwhile Fata: ZTBL, SBP contacted on loan write-offs, Senate body told

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel was informed on Tuesday that the Finance Ministry had contacted Zarai Taraqiati Bank Ltd (ZTBL) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) about writing off loans to the farmers of erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

In a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (Safron) headed by Senator Taj Afridi, the ZTBL officials said the Finance Ministry had contacted the ZTBL, and the issue would be sorted out within a month and a half.

They said that other banks including the ZTBL had given loans to the farmers from erstwhile Fata, and to a find a proper solution, the bank had sought all the details of the loans given to farmers in erstwhile tribal areas.

The committee was also informed that relief package for farmers of tribal districts as approved by the federal cabinet would be released with 45 days. The issue of admission to the students belonging to the merged tribal areas at universities in Punjab also came under discussion.

Afridi, who is the chairman of the committee, said that students were not granted admission at varsities in the Punjab as they had issues with regard to fees. He said the committee would contact the provincial government of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to resolve the issue of students' fees.

He directed the universities across the country not to create issues for students belonging to erstwhile tribal areas in getting admissions as their issues would be resolved soon. The officials of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Punjab said that the KP government withdrew its decision to waive off the fee of the students earlier given to the students from the merged tribal areas.

They said they were constantly in touch with the provincial governments of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan for finding a permanent solution to the fee of the merged tribal areas. The HEC informed the committee that there was a not a single college, which was affiliated with the Fata University - a public sector university founded in 2016, situated in Akhorwal, Darra Adam Khel, and run by the Ministry of Safron.

While briefing the committee, the HEC officials said that the matter did not pertain to the HEC and it was the domain of the Higher Education Department Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The committee was further informed that a project, "Establishment of sub-campuses of public sector universities at district level phase-II was proposed in PSDP 2018-2019".

Four campuses of the Fata University at Bajaur, South Waziristan, North Waziristan and Khyber Agency were proposed, the committee was informed in a written reply, adding that but due to rationalisation, the project was dropped from the PSDP. Moreover, Fata University is in its initial stage of development and establishment of its campuses in ex-FATA is not feasible at this stage for the university.

The committee was informed that the construction work on following facilities was in progress on academic blocks, students hostel, faculty hostel, administration block, central library, common facilities and gymnasium for the students, faculty and staff residences and roads and external development works.

Around 20 scholarships have been awarded for PhD studies for the faculty development of the university in various disciplines. Eleven scholars have proceeded abroad and joined foreign universities for their studies, while remaining are in process for completion of pre-departure formalities to proceed abroad.

The committee was also informed that Bahauddin Zakaria University was unable to accommodate students' quota due to a heavy financial burden on the university's kitty. Students previously enrolled will continue to obtain free education and boarding till the completion of degree in the university.

The committee was also briefed regarding total number of SNEs creation, categorisation and up-gradation of posts of medical specialists in the hospitals of erstwhile Fata.

Director Health of merged districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa informed the committee that 472 posts of various categories/grades for categorisation and upgradation were submitted to finance during the year 2019-20, only 47 senior medical officers posts to principal medical officer from BPS-18-19 were upgraded/categorized. For remaining, finance directed to furnish the written evidence of the sanctioned posts of senior medical officers of the various districts.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020