PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has directed the relevant commissioners for early identification of state land for establishment of citizen facilitation centres (CFCs) in the merged tribal districts.

A statement issued here said that Mr Khan was chairing a progress review meeting regarding establishment of CFCs in the merged districts and the provincial capital. Minister for finance Taimur Saleem Jhagra, adviser on information technology Ziaullah Bangash, additional chief secretary Shakeel Qadir Khan, secretary relief and rehabilitation Abid Majeed and other officials attended the meeting.

The chief minister directed for early identification of state land for setting up of a CFC in Tirah valley of Khyber district to ensure provision of basic services to the citizens on their doorstep.

The meeting was briefed that under the emergency relief project for the temporarily displaced persons (TDPs) in erstwhile Fata, Rs5.63 billion had already been disbursed among 364,229 beneficiaries whereas Rs1.96 billion was provided to 435,495 beneficiaries under the child wellness grant.

It was stated that financial aid was being given to all the deserving persons, while eligibility and enrolment was done through Nadra citizen database and biometric verification for disbursement of funds.

It said that the existing number of CFCs was 15 whereas the relief and rehabilitation department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had planned establishment of 12 additional CFCs which would bring their total to 27. Besides this, 14 more CFCs have also been planned.

With regard to CFCs in Peshawar district, the meeting was told that two of the 27 identified sites had already been shortlisted by the selection committee. The project will be completed in three years in three phases at an estimated cost of Rs454 million. It said that 18 services were being planned to be provided in phase-I and 11 services in phase-II.

The services currently being provided in the CFCs of merged districts by Nadra include issuance of identity cards, child registration certificates, family registration certificates, ETO Islamabad, NBP ATM, TDPs merged districts grants and e-Sahulat such as payment of bills, cellular top-ups, etc.

It said that Nadra had also planned to start passport counters, BISP counters, civil registration management system counters, issuance of birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, etc at the CFCs.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2020