Development schemes: NA panel demands details on FATA projects
Rs860m for displaced persons from Kurram still not released by federal govt.
ISLAMABAD:
A parliamentary panel on Monday asked all concerned departments to provide details of all ongoing and completed development projects in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).
The instructions were issued by the National Assembly Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (Safron) headed by Sajid Hussain Turi after a briefing proved unsatisfactory.
The committee expressed displeasure over the incomplete briefing provided
by the Economic Affair Division (EAD) and Fata Secretariat.
The committee had also invited all donors to discuss the mechanism of donations and use of funds for such development projects.
Kurram Agency’s political agent briefed the committee on the utilisation of funds worth Rs1.86 billion sanctioned by the premier for the rehabilitation of persons of Kurram Agency, displaced due to militancy, in detail.
He apprised the committee that some 20,000 families were compelled to flee the area, 4,239 houses were destroyed completely and 1,329 houses were partially damaged during the sectarian clashes in Kurram Agency.
Compensation payments are being made at the place of return through cross cheques in the name of the victims in order to ensure payments are made to the right people.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Abdul Qadir Baloch from Balochistan held the US responsible for the unrest in the country, adding that prior to 2001 the situation in Fata and other parts of the country was normal.
He also told the panel that Rs1 billion had been released to the political administration in the financial year 2010-2011 and that the remaining Rs860 million of the sanctioned amount had not been released for the rehabilitation of displaced persons of Kurram.
The committee recommended federal government to release the remaining amount immediately in order to complete the rehabilitation process in time.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2012.
A parliamentary panel on Monday asked all concerned departments to provide details of all ongoing and completed development projects in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).
The instructions were issued by the National Assembly Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (Safron) headed by Sajid Hussain Turi after a briefing proved unsatisfactory.
The committee expressed displeasure over the incomplete briefing provided
by the Economic Affair Division (EAD) and Fata Secretariat.
The committee had also invited all donors to discuss the mechanism of donations and use of funds for such development projects.
Kurram Agency’s political agent briefed the committee on the utilisation of funds worth Rs1.86 billion sanctioned by the premier for the rehabilitation of persons of Kurram Agency, displaced due to militancy, in detail.
He apprised the committee that some 20,000 families were compelled to flee the area, 4,239 houses were destroyed completely and 1,329 houses were partially damaged during the sectarian clashes in Kurram Agency.
Compensation payments are being made at the place of return through cross cheques in the name of the victims in order to ensure payments are made to the right people.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Abdul Qadir Baloch from Balochistan held the US responsible for the unrest in the country, adding that prior to 2001 the situation in Fata and other parts of the country was normal.
He also told the panel that Rs1 billion had been released to the political administration in the financial year 2010-2011 and that the remaining Rs860 million of the sanctioned amount had not been released for the rehabilitation of displaced persons of Kurram.
The committee recommended federal government to release the remaining amount immediately in order to complete the rehabilitation process in time.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2012.