Royalty on LPG excavation demanded: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly resolution

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday passed unanimous resolutions demanding federal government payment of royalty on excavation of Liquid Petroleum Gas from Kohat, inclusion of Dir Upper and Dir Lower in Prime Minister's relief package and speedy completion of USAID and other donor-funded projects.
The joint resolution of payment of 12.5 per cent royalty on LPG explored in the province was presented by Dr Iqbal Din Fana. The resolution was signed by Qalandar Khan Lodhi (PML-Q), Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour (ANP), Israrullah Khan Gandapore (PPP-Sherpao), Mohammad Javed Abbasi (PML-N) and Abdul Akbar Khan of PPP. It said that LPG was excavated from two oil wells of Kohat and Karak, besides exploring oil. Federal government sold 21, 000 metric ton LPG excavated from Kohat, but neither informed the province about it nor paid its royalty. Also, Malik Mohammad Qasim Khattak through a resolution demanded release of funds for Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) uranium exploration project in Karak.
Through another resolution, presented by Israrullah Khan Gandapore, the provincial assembly asked federal government for directing USAID and other donors for speedy completion of the ongoing and new schemes, not only in federally administered tribal areas (Fata) and Frontier Regions (FRs), but also in the adjacent settled districts.
The federal government was further urged to direct the secretariat concerned for encouraging such schemes in the adjacent districts of the tribal areas as residents of FRs usually migrate to these districts. He said that such districts have full right on the schemes of USAID and other donors. A women legislator, Tabbasum Shams Katozai through a resolution called for representation of Domestic Violence on Women Bill in the senate. All resolutions were put to vote and the house adopted them unanimously.