PESHAWAR, Aug 25: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government has decided to table the Hasba Bill in the coming session of the provincial assembly.

Speaking at the Guest's Hour programme of the Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, NWFP Senior Minister Sirajul Haq said the Frontier Assembly had the right to decide about the Hasba law and it would adopt it as the general public was keenly waiting for its early enforcement.

He said it was an honest effort on the MMA's part to implement Islamic laws in the province so that the golden period of the Muslim history could be restored.

Talking about the Council of Islamic Ideology, the minister said the MMA had opposed the newly formed CCI as most of its members were 'pro-government' and had nothing to do with the enforcement of Shariat.

It may be recalled that the federal government has opposed the proposed Hasba law and the CII has rejected it. Mr Haq urged the federal government to start the construction of the Bhasha dam without wasting further time on a debate on the controversial Kalabagh dam, which, he said, had been rejected by all the four provinces.

He said the NWFP government had taken austerity measures and reduced its power bill from Rs270 million to Rs150 million during the past three months. "We have decided to save each and every penny of the tax-payers' money," he added.

He said the provincial government had hired 900 male and 200 female doctors in addition to 126 specialists for hospitals.

The government, he added, had allocated 21 per cent and 9pc of its annual budget for education and health, respectively. He said a women university would start functioning in the NWFP by the end of August.