ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Communications, Thursday, was informed that the National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) has forwarded a summary to the federal cabinet for the approval of recruiting 1,900 posts.
The Senate standing committee which met with Prince Ahmad Umarzai in the chair, was briefed by the officials of the National Highways Authority (NHA) on various uncompleted projects especially those destroyed in the 2022 devastating floods.
The Standing Committee was given province-wise details of 1,900 posts of National Highways and Motorways. As per details, Sindh Urban will get 146 posts with 7.6 percent quota, Sindh Rural with 11.4 percent quota will get 233 seats, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 11.6 percent quota will get 222 seats, Balochistan with a six percent quota will get 159 seats, Gilgit-Baltistan with one percent quota will get 21 seats, Azad Jammu and Kashmir with two percent quota will get 42 seats, formerly Federal Administrated Tribal Areas with four percent quota will get 63 seats, Punjab with 50 percent quota will get 966 seats, and five seats are reserved for disabled persons. Moreover, the panel was informed that there are 1,750 uniform and 240 non-uniform posts.
Member Admin NHA said that the NHA was also following the same recruitment policy as other federal institutions were following for appointments. Inspector General (IG) National Highways and Motorways informed the committee about the problems being faced by the Motorway police owing to shortage of necessary staff, saying now he was awaiting the approval of the summary.
He urged the committee to help in this regard and said that the appointment process of the NHMP was being carried out by Virtual University. He also said that officials of the NHMP were facing a delay in payments of daily allowance which was approved by the prime minister of Pakistan but due to financial difficulties,the institute was unable to pay it from the current budget.
He said that we are not getting admin allowance due to which the officers of other departments do not even come on deputation and shy away from joining NHMP. He further said that officials who die on duty of the other forces including the police are being treated as martyrs but the NHMP officials are not being treated the same, but are considered as death in service. He urged the panel to help on this account to end discrimination.
The standing committee was informed in detail about the construction of Punjer bridge in Bolan area of Balochistan. The committee was informed that the bridge collapsed on August 26, 2022, due to devastating floods. An alternate route was made on 4 September 2022, the reconstruction of the bridge will cost Rs485 million for which a tender has been issued. The committee was told that earlier, the length of the bridge was 90 meters, now it will be 100 meters and a 10-meter waterway will also be built and a tunnel is also being built for the future. The committee was told that Rs27 million have been spent on the Panjar Bridge so far.
The panel was informed that the 2022 floods have damaged 30 percent of the N65. The work on this project will start at the end of August this year. The committee was informed that the Irish Causeways is being built at a cost of Rs90 million. The work started on June 18 and will be completed by December 17.
The committee was told that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of $150 million which will be spent on the damage caused by the 2022 flood, including 32 bridges.
It was informed that infrastructure in these areas was completely destroyed. Senator Kamil Ali Agha asked the NHA officials whether the Authority did not receive a single penny for the purpose.
The officials replied that they had not received the amount sufficient to start work. They said the toll tax they received fulfilled only some of their needs.
They complained that they had not received money from the Centre even for the temporary construction of the roads. They disclosed that the Authority already owed Rs3 trillion to different departments.
They told the meeting that they received loans, not funds, under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). The committee chairman ordered the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and the NHA officials to attend the Senate body’s next meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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