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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has directed the MPAs of the merged districts to provide their scheme to include it into the Annual Development Plan (ADP).
If the proposed schemes are cleared, the MPAs would receive their development funds under the allocation formula.
A letter has been dispatched to the MPAs of the newly merged districts of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in which it was demanded from the newly elected MPAs to share their due development schemes with the CM office that the funds could be released.
MPAs of these tribal districts have acknowledged that they have received the letter, which showed that their scheme to be included into the scheme of the ADP, while the fund to be released according to the pre-set formula.
The Peshawar High Court has already ended the discretionary power Chief minister after which the CM is bound to make the scheme of the annual development plan, after which the development scheme could be re-initiated in the merged districts.
Cabinet meeting
CM Mahmood has directed members of provincial cabinet for ensuring their attendance in the sessions of the provincial assembly. He issued these directives while presiding over a meeting of the provincial cabinet here at Civil Secretariat on Friday. Besides, members of the provincial cabinet, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), the administrative secretaries of other departments also attended the meeting.
He further directed the members of the provincial cabinet to not only attend question-hour of the house with full preparation rather also ensure their presence in their offices. He while declaring the operational process of the government as a joint responsibility of all members of the cabinet said that incapacity of the Chief Executive, he himself will monitor the performance of cabinet members.
The provincial cabinet approved Rs.1billion non-ADP scheme for minimizing losses from the natural disasters and initiating of rehabilitation process without any delay during the current financial year while for the financial year 2020-21, this non-ADP scheme will be converted into an ADP scheme.
Under this non-ADP scheme, rehabilitation of the Gole Power House, roads, water supply, and flood-affected people triggered due to glacier outburst at Golen area of district Chitral during July 2019. The efforts will cost Rs329.997 million, while the remaining amount will be utilized for the compensation of losses due to similar natural disasters and rehabilitation.
He made it clear that the speedy development of the newly merged districts (NMDs) is included in the priorities of the government as their uplift is impossible without bringing them at par with other districts of the province.
Quota increased
Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has stated that the commitment of the provincial government to increase the quota for special citizens in government service from 2% to 4% will be implemented soon after the passing of relevant Act from the provincial Assembly.
While addressing the Laptop Distribution Ceremony amongst special students of the newly merged Tribal Districts, the Chief Minister stated that 1700 new posts were created in the social welfare department out of which special persons were recruited on 450 posts which is evidence enough that the provincial government is dedicatedly working for the welfare of special citizens of the province.
Chief Minister reiterated that the provincial government is taking pragmatic measures for the welfare of citizens in the newly merged tribal districts adding that the distribution of laptop amongst special students is first of the many steps to be taken for promotion and development of the education sector in the Tribal Districts.
The Chief Minister, on this occasion, also provided cash cheque of Rs. one Lakh along with a commitment of providing Rs.20,000 per month and sponsoring the education of a child who was involved in child labour to meet the needs of his family members. It is pertinent to mention here that the video of the aforesaid child went viral on the social media platform of which the Chief Minister had taken notice.
The Chief Minister also directed that the poor child would be enrolled in school and other expenses of his study would be paid by the Chief Minister himself.
Chief Minister clarified that the new Act for the Welfare of special citizens will include traveling and other allied facilities so that legal cover may be provided to develop initiatives for special citizens.
He added that the present government is taking pragmatic measures for the development of the tribal Districts on priority basis so as to bring them at par with the developed areas of the province.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2019.
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