PESHAWAR: Rejecting the proposal to keep the Fata secretariat and the post of the additional chief secretary (Fata) intact, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet on Thursday decided to form a seven-member committee to finalise plans for the ‘financial and administrative integration’ of the merged areas into the province.

Information minister Shaukat Yousafzai told reporters said the cabinet, whose meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, discussed for over two hours the transfer of the control of government agencies working in the merged areas with the relevant departments and address concerns.

He said the integration of the merged areas’ directorates into the government departments and the financial arrangements for the region until then also came under discussion.

Forms panel to finalise plans for merged areas’ integration into province

Mr Yousafzai said as there’s some confusion on the matter, the cabinet decided to form a committee headed by senior minister for sports and tourism Atif Khan to resolve the issues.

He added that the ministers of finance, law and information and the secretaries of the departments concerned would be members of the committee, which would produce its report within two weeks.

The minister said the proposal put before the cabinet was about the retaining of the Fata secretariat and post of additional chief secretary, who headed the government machinery in the erstwhile tribal areas.

He said the government strongly felt that the Fata-KP merger should be 100 percent with all departments of the region being looked over by the relevant departments.

Mr Yousafzai said the cabinet approved the abolition of the Fata additional chief secretary’s post and allowed the government to task special secretaries for Fata in the finance and planning and development departments with overseeing the financial matters of the merged areas.

He said the plan placed before the cabinet insisted that since the provincial government couldn’t spend the money meant for the region’s development, the post of the Fata additional chief secretary should be kept intact.

The minister said Prime Minister Imran Khan would visit the merged areas soon and would announce a big package for the region’s development.

He said as large funds allocated for the region went to waste due to corruption and other issues, the government was committed to checking it.

Mr Yousafzai said a proposal regarding the delimitation for local body polls in Fata had been prepared and the cabinet’s special committee would be briefed about it.

He said the cabinet also approved a bill to repeal the KP Ehtesab Commission Act, 2014, and hand over its resources and cases to the anti-corruption establishment.

The bill will be presented in the provincial assembly for approval.

The minister said 107 regular employees of the accountability body (KPEC) would be asked to either become part of the surplus pool of employees or avail themselves of the golden handshake scheme.

He said the cabinet also approved a proposal to re-appoint Rashid Khan to the Bank of Khyber board of directors in light of his good performance during the three years stint, which ended in June.

The minister said the cabinet also approved the appointment of five new members to KP Oil and Gas Company Limited’s board, including Shumail Butt, Muhammad Raiz Khan, Mohammad Arif, Zahir Azizuddin and Mohammad Ashfaq Khattak, while Mr Ashfaq would serve as the board’s chairman.

The cabinet also approved an amendment to the Pedo Act 1993 to allow the handing over of the micro-hydropower projects built during the last PTI government to the local communities.

He said of the 356 micro-hydel projects, work on 256 had been completed and therefore, their control would be handed over to the local communities.

The cabinet also approved a memorandum of understanding for the construction of 496 megawatts Spat Gah hydropower project signed between a Korean company and provincial government few weeks ago.

The minister said the cabinet also approved the KP Digital Policy, amendment to the police rules, and amendments to the KP Public Procurement Regulatory Authority Act, 2012.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2018