ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on Thursday took notice of the delay in payment of Rs0.4 million to each household in South Waziristan District and stressed the need to expedite all matters related to payments at the earliest.

A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) was held on Thursday.

Senator Hilalur Rehman chaired the meeting that was also attended by Senators Sania Nishtar, Bahramand Khan Tangi, Shamim Afridi, Dost Muhammad Khan, Gurdeep Singh, Syed Muhammad Sabir Shah, Haji Hidayat Ullah Khan, and senior officers of the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions, Department of Finance Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Home Department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along with all concerned.

While being briefed by the Relief, Rehabilitation and Settlement Department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regarding putting curbs on the survey of damaged houses and non-payment of Rs0.4 million to each household in South Waziristan District, the committee took strong notice of the delay and stressed the need to expedite all matters related to payments at the earliest.

About the reason for delays, the committee was informed that bureaucratic hiccups were the main reason for this and that a requisition worth Rs65 billion has been submitted, yet action is awaited to date.

The committee was informed that no audit has been conducted since the merger. Members asserted that government priorities were completely unjustified and all loopholes in the system must be removed. The committee was of the view that a summary regarding the survey will be sent on its behalf to the chief minister.

Discussing the change of status of Type–D Hospital to a Rural Health Centre (RHC), the committee took notice of the unavailability of staff on a regular basis. It asserted that the minimum staff of a Basic Health Unit (BHU) had been deployed, however, no one is found on premises.

The committee directed secretary Department of Health Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to visit the Health Unit within a week and issue a show cause to all those who are absent. A compliance report must be submitted to the committee.

While being briefed by the Finance and Revenue Department regarding the demarcation of boundaries of South Waziristan District and allocation of funds for the establishment of headquarter and line department offices for newly-created districts, the committee stressed the need to curtail any notification unless proper demarcation of the area is completed. A letter will be written to the chief secretary by the committee in this regard.

Discussing issues of non-absorption of large numbers of Levies and Khasadars Force of ex-FATA in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; non-payment of salaries to police personnel of South Waziristan District and details of ghost police personnel of merged areas that are absent from duty, the committee was provided details of the same by Additional IGP Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the Home Department. A final document will be shared with the committee after reconciling the details presented by both offices.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022