ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) on Tuesday directed to make GIS mapping of all schemes effective in the tribal districts and the concerned authorities submit the progress report in the next meeting.
The parliamentary panel met with Hilalur Rehman in the chair here on Tuesday which expressed annoyance over the non-implementation of the recommendation of the SAFRON sub-committee regarding the integration of the GIS system for all schemes and strict observance of the KP-PPRA rules for the procurement process and issuance of work order through E-tendering.
The chairman of the committee expressed displeasure at the failure of the Irrigation Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to provide the working paper on time and said that before the next meeting, the working paper related to all the records should be presented to the committee.
The committee directed to ensure the implementation of sub-committee recommendations. The committee issued orders to make GIS mapping of all schemes effective in tribal districts and directed the concerned authorities to submit the progress report in the next meeting of the committee.
The chairman committee said that the aim of merging the tribal districts in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was to bring these districts at par with the rest of the KP, but unfortunately, this is not happening. There is no justice in the funds for tribal districts.
Additional secretary finance Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that while merging the tribal districts in the province, all the provinces had to give three percent of their budget, which is Rs24 billion to the tribal districts, which has not been given yet.
Senator Bahramand Khan Tangi said that the former FATA made a sacrifice and decided to go with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa but they are not getting any relief- even clean water is not being provided to the people there.
Additional Secretary Finance Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa briefed the committee on the funds released to the KPK Police in the last two years. Senator Dost Mohammad Khan said that some Khasadars and Levies have not received their salaries for 18 months. At which the relevant authorities said that out of 30,000 police, if 900 are not getting their salaries, there may be a problem which will be investigated.
Senior KP police officials told the committee that there may be some ghost officers from North and South Waziristan. They said that the police do not have a problem of funds.
Senator Hidayatullah said that the police of the merged districts are on the front line and have problems of vehicles and weapons. They need more funds. The chairman committee said that there is injustice with the funds of FATA as the Federation gives funds but the KPK does not spend. He said that the people of former FATA should not be treated unfairly.
Senator Sania Nishtar said that the system has to be fixed only then things will be fine. She said that salaries should be paid on biometrics. E-tendering and e-billing can improve governance. We are ready to help but the provincial government should show seriousness. There are a lot of funds, but nothing on the ground. The representative of the chief secretary Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, while giving suggestions said that instead of a single department, the work should be given to each relevant department, responsibilities should be shared, each department should have its own limits, then the situation will be better, which the committee appreciated.
The chairman of the committee said there is a need to divide the role of irrigation department, for which the chief secretary will write a letter to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The matter regarding vacation of ancestral home (Panna Kot House, Upper Dir) of Nawab Muhammad Shah Khisro Khan, ex-ruler State of Dir was postponed till the next meeting.
The chairman committee asked the secretary SAFRON to ask the Commissioner Upper Dir not to create difficulties for these people – otherwise, the Committee will issue orders to the Chief Commissioner Upper Dir and Chief Secretary Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to appear in the committee - and after discussing the matter in their presence, the committee will issue instructions.
To examine the problems of the tribal districts, the committee decided to hold the next meeting at the office of the chief secretary of the Khyber-Pakhtun-khwa.
The committee will also review the schemes on the ground.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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