PESHAWAR, Oct 9: The government has empowered Fata Development Working Party (FDWP) to sanction schemes up to Rs 200 million, says a handout issued here on Monday.

It said that Fata PDWP in its recent meeting approved 24 projects regarding communication, agriculture, forest, health and public health engineering sectors.

Additional chief secretary Civil Secretariat, Fata Arbab Mohammad Shahzad presided over the meeting, said the decision had been taken to accelerate reforms in the Fata.

The handout said that a total 1,042 schemes had been approved under the current annual development programme and the schemes costing Rs 1,048.438 million include 17 revised and seven new schemes with focus on road construction and agriculture extension.

Five out of the six road projects are being implemented at a cost of Rs 745.639 million in South Waziristan Agency, while three out of the five schemes in forest sector are also being executed.

A land project costing Rs 12.174 million has also been launched in Waziristan to reclaim and develop agricultural land.

HAZARA UNIVERSITY: The syndicate of Hazara University, Mansehra, has decided on Monday to recruit 175 people in its administrative and academic staff on a permanent basis.

A press release issued here on Monday, the 8th meeting chaired by Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Ihsan Ali said they took the decision to appoint staff of basic pay-scale BPS 17-20 after approving the recommendations of the selection board.

The syndicate members, including Gul Zaib Khan, additional secretary higher education NWFP; Naseem Akhtar, principal of Government Girls Degree College Haripur; Syed Mussarat Shah, former vice-chancellor of the University of Engineering and Technology; Dr Shaheena Jamil Khan, chief executive of the Shaheena Jamil Trust Hospital and senior professors of the Hazara University attended the meeting.

The meeting also approved the recommendations of the affiliation committee and decided that rules and regulations of the Higher Education Commission regarding matters concerning affiliation would be strictly followed by the university.

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