PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet on Tuesday approved a provincial climate change policy and action plan 2022, in which a number of measures have been proposed.
The KP has become the first province after the 18th constitutional amendment, which has made policy regarding climate change.
Briefing the media regarding decisions of the 80th provincial cabinet meeting that was chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan here, Special Assistant to Chief Minister (SACM) for Information and Public Relations, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif said that a climate change policy and action plan 2022 aimed to prevent and monitor climate change was approved.
He added the policy was made after Glacier Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) incidents and attack of locusts in the south region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He informed that glacier melting causes and remedies are also included in this policy.
Explaining silent features of the policy, SACM said the new policy has been made as per requirement of present climate change, which is to deal with floods mitigations and minimize the human and natural losses in disasters. On the other hand, he added the greenhouse gas emission would be minimized as well.
Saif said specific measures have been proposed in the policy for agriculture, forests, environment, wildlife, energy, transport and other sectors. He said KP climate change policy is fully matched with the reviewed National Climate Change Policy 2021.
The SACM said that the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan has directed the relevant authorities to complete the feasibility study for the installation of a waste-to-energy plant in the province within a month and said that the installation of the bio-fuel plant will reduce and eliminate environmental pollution, saying that it will enable us to become independent in the energy sector.
Saif said the CM directed to amend the relevant law for the land required for universities and said that no more than 100 kanals of land should be purchased for the establishment of universities so as to ensure maximum protection of agricultural lands. The provincial cabinet approved the food department to sign a memorandum of agreement with Bank of Khyber for the Insaf Food Card, he added.
He said that through the Insaf Food Card, deserving families will get Rs2100 per month for which the government will bear billions of rupees as subsidy.
Barrister Saif said the KP cabinet approved the names of four non-official members to form the Forestry Commission due to the absence of a Forestry Round Table.
The SACM said that the cabinet, while reviewing the decisions made during the special budget meeting held on July 13, 2022, reduced the 16 percent ad hoc allowance to 15 percent on the ongoing basic salary of all provincial government employees.
It also approved the postponement of the decision to grant pension on retirement from July 2022 according to the average salary of the last 3 years, he added.
Saif said the cabinet also approved the permanent contract investigation officer Sadiq Dilawar of the provincial ombudsman’s office. This will benefit a population of 89596 people, he added.
The CM aide said that the provincial cabinet has approved the lease of 100 kanals of land of the local government department to the sports, tourism, and culture department for the establishment of cultural complexes in Mardan.
This complex will be established at Mardan Bypass (West Ring Road) UC Chamtar. The Provincial Cabinet has approved the signing of lease agreement between the two departments in this regard. Approved to be included in the Authority, he added.
While the cabinet in the light of the orders of the High Court approved giving personal upgrade to four employees of erstwhile FATA Development Corporation, who were deprived of up-gradation from 4th March 2014 in which other employees were upgraded.
The provincial cabinet approved certain necessary amendments to the Schools Regulatory Authority Act, 2017 aimed at making the Act clearer and simpler to ensure effective implementation.
The Provincial Cabinet approved the appointment of Zakullah Khattak, Grade 20, as the Managing Director of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Urban Mobility Authority (PCS).
The Provincial Cabinet also approved the permanence of the remaining 21 Special Police Officers of the Special Police Force. It should be noted that earlier the provincial cabinet had approved the permanency of 9618 employees of the Special Police Force.
Saif said the provincial cabinet also approved the permanence of the remaining 21 employees. He added the provincial cabinet has transferred the land used by the health department to the sports department for providing facilities for international standard sports gymnasium and women’s indoor games in Abbottabad and also approved Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Industrial Statistics Welfare of Labour Rules 2022.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
Comments
Comments are closed.