K-P moves to regulate water sourcesd

Issues of unannounced load shedding echo in assembly

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday passed a bill to regulate the use of water resources in the province after accommodating some amendments from the opposition benches.

As the house reconvened, the treasury benches tabled the bill to form a commission to regulate water reservoirs in the province. After the gubernatorial nod, the law requires the government to set up the commission in the next six months under the chief minister.

The commission will include as members the ministers for environment, public health engineering, agriculture, industry, local government, irrigation and the provincial chief secretary.

It will regulate the use of water for households, industries and agriculture while they will also have the authority to decide about the forest animals and fisheries.

After the bill was presented, PPP lawmaker Ahmed Kundi suggested some amendments which the treasury benches acquiesced to. And the bill was passed by the house.

Load-shedding

In other business, the issue of prolonged, unannounced load-shedding was raised. ANP’s Sardar Hussain Babak presented an adjournment motion.

He said that residents of the province were fed up with unannounced load-shedding. He pointed out that the province produces surplus power but it does not get enough power to meet its growing needs.

“We need over 3,000 megawatts (MW) of power but we only get 1,700MW and the system is so rustic that it cannot support the load,” he complained.

He added that the centre, which is also governed by the ruling PTI, has turned a deaf ear to resolving the issue of net hydel payments for the province. The ANP lawmaker added that the province had passed an Rs923 billion budget without having any money in the bank.

We support the provincial government on the issue [of net hydel profits] and could also stage a protest for the rights of the province, he offered the treasury benches. MMA Parliamentary Leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman said that the provincial government should show guts when asking for their rights, as he assured the treasury benches of support from the opposition.

K-P Law Minister Sultan Khan said that the government was open to incorporating the opposition’s changes in any legislation.

However, he offered backhanded criticism that the opposition benches do not take any interest in the procedures of the assembly. The opposition benches, though, protested the law minister’s statement. Later the deputy speaker has adjourned the session until July 13.

Misbehaviour of police

The assembly also took up the issue of police personnel misbehaving with lawmaker Naseer Khan. The matter was referred to the privileges committee with directions to the law minister to take action against the officers involved.

The issue was referred after Naseer submitted a privileged motion in the assembly. He claimed that he was mistreated by a police officer.

Sultan responded by saying they acknowledge the sacrifices of the police department in the war on terror, but such practices against lawmakers will not be tolerated.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2020.