PHOTO: REUTERS
PESHAWAR: Minister for Revenue Shakeel Ahmed said on Thursday the land record in Malakand, Dir Upper and Dir Lower districts will be computerised to provide better services to people in transfer and purchase of land.
"We have sent a summary to Finance Department for approval of computerisation of land record in these districts and practical work will commence soon after approval," the Minister told APP during an exclusive interview here at his office.
"Over 70 per cent land disputes will come to an end with computerisation of land record in these mountainous districts,” he said adding, land's transfer are mostly done in these districts through stamp papers, which often cause disputes among inheritors, people and these issues would be amicably addressed after computerisation of land record.
The Minister maintained that four years would be required for computerisation of land record in these districts, saying land record in all other districts of KP would be computerised by 2020.
He said computerisation of land record has been started in Mardan, Takht Bhai and Peshawar and would be expanded to other districts soon.
The Revenue Department has accelerated work on implementation of Prime Minister Imran Khan's vision to increase revenue, eliminate menace of corruption and retrieving of all encroached lands in the province, Shakeel maintained.
He said a comprehensive policy for transfers and postings of staff are being chalked out to end culture of favouritism and improve service delivery.
The Department is striving hard to increase revenue by enhancing tax collection system and role of agriculture sector will carry significant importance in this regard.
The Minister said the government was committed to end sense of deprivation of people of Malakand and evolved a comprehensive development strategy to expedite pace of economic development there.
He said Government accorded highest priority to education and health sectors and a high level committee under chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner Malakand was constituted to provide quality education and health services to people.
He said government would construct a public sector university in all districts of KP and a woman campus of University of Malakand would be established at Malakand district as its approval was granted by Higher Education Commission, Islamabad.
The Minister maintained that government had adopted zero tolerance against corruption and encroachments and reiterated that all the encroached land would be retrieved and corrupt elements would not be spared.
"Merit is being ensured in all departments imperative for good governance and qualitative improvement in working of public sector organisations for well-being of masses."
Targets are being given to officers for increasing of revenue generation and incentives would be awarded after meeting set targets in a stipulated time.
"Any officer exhibited good performance and meets assigned financial targets would be rewarded while strict punishment would be given to those found guilty in corrupt practices and negligence in duties," he remarked.
The promotion cases of Patwaris and other lower staff would be expedited as per set rules and procedures strictly on merit and no delay would be tolerated in this regard, he maintained.
Shakeel said state of the art Engineering Campus of University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar was also planned for Malakand.
The Minister said Government accorded highest priorities to tourism sector and new tourism sites are being developed in the province to increase revenue by attracting foreign and domestic tourists.
At least 15 tourist sites in Hazara, Swat, Chitral, Swat, Malakand, Swabi and other places were identified for promotion of healthy activities in the province.
He said construction of 62 kilometres long Kalam-Komrat road has been included in ADP 2018-19 which would be opened the entire area for tourism after completion.
It helps generate employment opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people, he added.
He said a road to Elam Pir Baba in Buner district was also approved which, after completion, would promote mountainous and adventure tourism in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 12th, 2018.
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