PESHAWAR, April 14: The NWFP Assembly was informed on Wednesday that a total of 115 development schemes of Rs36 billion had been forwarded to the Executive Committee of National Economic Council during the current fiscal year.

Responding to objections raised by the Opposition over the failure of the NWFP government to send development schemes to Ecnec this year, Senior Minister Siraj-ul-Haq told the House that the MMA government had sent 130 development schemes of various nature during the previous year and Rs24 billion was to be spent on these schemes.

He said the provincial government had also proposed 45 development schemes which would have cost Rs12 billion under the prime minister's special package. He said the proposed development projects were: improvement and extension of the health facilities, social welfare, population welfare, wildlife, forest, environment, water supply, irrigation and electrification of villages; construction of water, sanitation system and bridges; promotion of information technology, sports and tourism; urban development, agriculture, school and literacy; and communications, interior affairs and other departments.

Officials of various departments, he said, were in touch with their counterparts in Islamabad. "They monitor their progress at all levels and keep the provincial government informed about it. We want to settle all issues through negotiations," he added.

He said some of the old development schemes were being allocated more funds to get them completed on time. He said the provincial government had proposed some fresh development schemes for backward districts to end the sense of deprivation among the people of these areas.

The completion of Left Bank Canal, Gomal Zam dam and Munda dam were on top of the priority list. The government, he said, wanted to complete them in the shortest possible time, but it involved huge money.

Earlier, hitting hard at the NWFP government, Abdul Akbar Khan of People's Party Parliamentarians claimed that the government had sent not a single project to Ecnec. "The Federal Finance Minister, Mr Shaukat Aziz, has told us during a meeting that the NWFP government has not proposed a single scheme this year," he added.

The irrigation department, he said, had no engineer from the irrigation discipline. The civil engineers, who were the executing engineers, were running the whole Irrigation Department. "The provincial government should induct irrigation engineers as we have no such engineer in the entire province," he added.

"Likewise, we have some mining engineers, but not any mineral engineer in the mineral department. We lack a proper mineral policy, because we have no mineral engineer," the PPP leader said.

He advised the government to streamline its development activities otherwise it would fail to achieve its budgetary targets. Bashir Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party and Qalandar Khan Lodhi of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) also expressed their views on Ecnec-sponsored schemes.

Earlier, the Opposition lawmakers staged a walkout against remarks of treasury benches MPAs on Tuesday. The Treasury benches members had accused the Opposition of convening the session just to mint money in the name of various allowances. The Opposition deplored remarks made by the MMA leaders.

On a point of order, Mr Bilour of the ANP asked the House to condemn what he called the politically-motivated imprisonment of PML-N acting chief Makhdoom Javed Hashmi in a sedition case. He said dubbing politicians as traitors had been an old practice of the establishment.