ISLAMABAD: A Senate panel on Thursday decided to investigate the $44 million Merged Areas Governance Programme (MAGP-II), focusing on the border governance, support of local governance, and the delivery of basic services in the formerly tribal districts.

A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON), chaired by Senator Hilal ur Rehman, deliberated upon the MAGP-II programme.

Senior officials of the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa informed the committee that the $44 million programme is funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and mainly focuses on border governance, support of local governance, and the delivery of basic services.

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The officials further stated that the programme is directly executed by the UNDP without involving or coordinating with the provincial government.

Senator Sania Nishtar inquired about the on-ground details of the scheme, but the officials failed to provide any concrete response.

Senator Hilal ur Rehman remarked that the scheme is clearly a “fraud”, as local administration and the provincial home department have no knowledge of the scheme, adding that there is also no way to identify the scheme.

After detailed discussions, the committee decided to form a sub-committee on the matter to address the concerns of the members.

The panel also deliberated upon the absorption of 23 Khasadars from Orakzai district and eight Khasadars from Bajaur district. The committee was informed that 23 Khasadars from Orakzai district have been absorbed, but the eight Khasadars from Bajaur district could not be absorbed as they retired before the absorption process.

Senator Hidayatullah stated that the former chief minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had ordered the absorption of Khasadars and Levies on April 4, 2019, but the personnel retired in July 2019.

Additional Chief Secretary Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Syed Imtiaz H Shah told the committee that the Act for the absorption of personnel was enacted in September 2019, and the personnel who retired before the enactment of the act could not fall within the ambit of absorption.

The committee directed to seek legal opinions on the Act to determine if there is any way out for the absorption of the eight Khasadars from Bajaur.

While discussing the implementation status of committee recommendations concerning the absorption of 91 Khasadars from South Waziristan, officials from the provincial police department stated that the absorption had not been recommended by the Validating Committee, as the personnel failed to submit the required documents against their claims. The committee directed the police department to reconsider the matter and submit a report in the next meeting.

The committee also took up the matter of Rs1.5 billion released by the federal government out of the Accelerated Implementation Programme (AIP) funds to the Relief and Rehabilitation Department of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa for the payment of damaged public houses in South Waziristan.

Concerned provincial officials informed the committee that the Rs1.5 billion should be shifted to the current account from the development account, as there are no development schemes for South Waziristan. The Finance Ministry apprised that several requests had been made, but P&D did not respond, and that there is no way to transfer Rs1.5 billion from the development to the current account. However, the committee recommended the Finance Ministry to find a possible solution to the matter.

The committee also discussed the implementation status of the recommendations made by the sub-committee regarding the mandatory use of Geographic Information System (GIS), mandatory end-to-end digital procurement, and the installation of a biometric verification system.

The members expressed dissatisfaction and directed the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government to make efforts for the utilisation of digital procurement as it paves the way for good governance. The meeting was attended by senators Dost Mohammad Khan, Sania Nishtar, and Hidayatullah, Secretary SAFRON Pervaiz Ahmed Junejo, Additional Chief Secretary, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Syed Imtiaz H Shah, and other senior officials of relevant departments.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024