Centre agrees to give Rs8bn: CM - Net hydel-profit share
By Bureau Report
PESHAWAR, June 8: Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has said that the federal government has agreed to enhance the NWFP's share of net profit of the hydel power from Rs6 billion to Rs8 billion.
He said that the federal government has also agreed on enhancing the share of provinces from the divisible pool to 47.5 per cent, but they had been trying to convince the government to increase it to 50 per cent.
Speaking at the joint oath-taking ceremony of the Peshawar Press Club and Khyber Union of Journalists on Tuesday at the press club on Tuesday, he regretted that the NWFP generated bulk of the electricity in the country, but instead of becoming a prosperous province it was facing problems.
He said: "The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government has raised a number of issues regarding rights of the province with the federal government and it is the outcome of these efforts that the Centre has agreed to increase the net profit on hydel power generation which was previously capped on Rs6 billion."
Elaborating government's future plan, Mr Durrani said that 60,000 jobs would be created in the next financial year. He said that 20,000 teachers would be appointed who would be paid Rs2000 each per month and whose responsibility would be to teach 25 people. An amount of Rs500 million had been located in the next annual development programme (ADP), he added.
"The MMA government does not believe in the covert and overt censorship. So we have never issued any advice to the newspapers in this regard. We believe in openness and freedom of the press," he added.
Referring to the nomination of JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman as the leader of opposition in the National Assembly, Mr Durrani said that he had contested the election for the slot of prime minister and bagged more votes than the candidate of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD).
The MMA was a close ally of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), which had voted for Maulana Fazlur Rehman for the prime minister office, he claimed. The chief minister said that he would talk to the Peshawar Corps commander on the establishment of barriers in the cantonment area as it might create problems for the people visiting parks located in the cantonment limits.
He said the government had once again sent the draft of Hasba Act to the NWFP governor for its final reading. He denied that it was a move to enforce the "martial law of Mullah".
Mr Durrani announced Rs1 million as annual grant for the Peshawar Press Club's group insurance scheme, which the club had planned for its members. He also assured his all out support for the club in future. Earlier, the Khyber Union of Journalists president and Peshawar Press Club president spoke about the problems faced by the newsmen community in the province.
