GILGIT, May 7: Northern Areas will get a share in the royalty of the water reservoir being built in areas bordering the Northern Areas and the NWFP.

This was stated by federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas Tahir Iqbal, who is also the chief executive of Northern Areas, at a news briefing here.

The minister said there were no constitutional hitches as President Gen Pervez Musharraf had announced royalty for Northern Areas during his recent visit to the dam site in the Bhasha village.

Therefore, he said, there should be no doubts about payment of royalty to the people of Northern Areas.

He said that 80 per cent of the budget for the region was being spent on ongoing projects and the remaining would be spent on new development schemes.

The minister said the local administration had been directed to cancel deputations of officials and doctors in education and health departments.

He said the departments needed to improve the system of service.

He said the government was taking steps to strengthen judiciary and additional sessions’ judges would be appointed in the region’s six districts to assist the sessions judge.

Mr Iqbal also inaugurated work on an RCC bridge on the River Hunza between the Karakoram University and Danyore.