ISLAMABAD, June 21: The socio-economic conditions of the less developed areas need to be improved and brought on a par with that of developed areas of the country.
This observation was made by the Senate Functional Committee on Problems of Less Developed Areas at a meeting held at the Parliament House on Monday.
The committee members said the necessary physical and social infrastructure including roads, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, education and basic health facilities should be provided in the less developed areas.
The committee chairperson, Senator Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli, in her opening remarks, said development of the social infrastructure was need of the hour. She called for giving priority to development of these areas and stressed the need for a bi-partisan and national approach in this regard.
The committee members were of the view that a special package for poverty alleviation in these areas should be announced and criteria be fixed to determine the areas declared as less developed areas.
Planning Commission deputy chairman gave a detailed briefing on the development strategies in less developed areas and apprised the committee of the progress made so far on the ongoing projects.
It was informed that Rs70.64 billion have been allocated for the less developed areas in Federal PSDP 2004-05. Out of this amount Rs8.08 billion, Rs16.19 billion and Rs19.16 billion have been allocated for NWFP, Balochistan and special areas like AJK, NA and Fata, respectively.
It was told that provision of basic amenities like communication, health care, education, water and sanitation formed the main part of the national development strategy.
The committee was informed that Tameer-i-Pakistan Programme was launched in April 2003, and each Senator/MNA could identify schemes relating to education, health, sanitation and water supply etc.
It was further informed that 423 MPs identified 17,364 schemes costing Rs4.04 billion under Tameer-i-Pakistan, out of which 7,714 schemes had been approved. The committee members were of the view that the processing of development schemes was not being carried out within the stipulated time and needed to be expedited.
The committee constituted a three-member sub-committee with Senator Mohammad Naseer Mengal as chairman and Senators Sanaullah Baloch and Nawab Mohammad Ayaz Khan Jogezai as members to coordinate with the authorities concerned and ensure proper monitoring and speedy implementation of the development schemes.
Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli, Bibi Yasmeen Shah, Shereen Noor, Mohammad Ajmal, Rashid Ahmed Khan, Syed Sajjad Hussain, Mohammad Amjad Abbas, Mohammad Naseer Mengal, Sanaullah Baloch, Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai, Amanullah Kanrani and Mohammad Akram Sheikh attended the meeting.
