NWFP Assembly on Monday unanimously passed two identical resolutions demanding withdrawal of raise in the prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene oil and natural gas, and exempting the flood affected areas from payment of utility bills. The two resolutions were moved by Bashir Ahmad Bilour, parliamentary leader of ANP, and Amanat Shah of MMA, while NWFP Minister for Revenue Asmatullah and Minister for Information Asif Iqbal Daudzai proposed amendments regarding exempting the flood affected areas from electricity and gas bills payment.
The resolutions said that the provincial assembly demands of the federal government to withdraw the latest increase in the prices of petroleum products and termed it a minibudget within a month. They said that the increase has made the recent increase in the salaries of the government employees useless.
They said that the decision of the federal government would directly affect the general public and particularly the working class.
Sikandar Hayat Sherpao of PPP-Sherpao objected to the use of the word mini-budget in the resolution and called for deletion of the word. However, later he did not press his point.
Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan put the resolution to vote and the whole house replied in 'yes', passing the resolutions unanimously.
Later, the house passed north-west Frontier Province (Amendment of Laws) Act, 2005 empowering the Chief Minister to head the affairs of Textbook Board, Education Training Institutes, Educational Boards, Frontier Education Foundation, Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency.
Khalid Waqar Chamkani and Mohammad Idrees tabled the bill and the house passed it unanimously. After the passage of the bill the speaker adjourned the proceedings till 9.30 am on Tuesday.