PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet on Tuesday approved the proposed amendments to the rules for village and neighbourhood councils to increase remuneration of tehsil council chairmen and mayors.

The cabinet met here with Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in the chair and ministers and aides to the chief minister, chief secretary, senior member of the Board of Revenue, and secretaries of government departments in attendance.

According to an official statement issued here, the cabinet approved amendments to the KP Village and Neighbourhood Councils Rules, 2022, for increasing the remuneration of tehsil mayors and chairmen and providing them with 200 litres vehicle fuel every month.

It also condemned the statement of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman for advocating a halt to the provision of funds by the centre to the province and insisted that such statements were tantamount to showing enmity toward the people of the province.

Forms panel to fix official wheat price

The cabinet also took strong exception to the statement of Maulana Fazlur Rehman and termed it disrespectful to an elected government.

“Such a statement has exposed the real face of Maulana Fazl,” the official statement quoted the cabinet as observing.

The cabinet also approved the formation of a sub-committee to be headed by the food minister and comprising finance and local government ministers and relevant officials to fix the official wheat rate.

It discussed the “hardships” faced by the consumers due to closure of CNG stations in the province. The chief minister announced that he would take up the matter with authorities for the relief of the people.

The participants also approved a proposal for declaring Peshawar and Uzbekistan’s Termiz as “sister cities” and authorised the mayor and administrator of the Capital Metropolitan Government, Peshawar, to sign the Model Sister City Agreement with Termiz’s authorities for it.

The cabinet also approved the KP Domestic Violence against Women (Prevention and Protection) Rules, 2022, to protect women from violence at workplaces and home as guaranteed by the Constitution.

According to the official statement, the participants granted ex post facto approval to the charges on fuel, transportation and allied expenditure for carrying out relief activities and surveys in areas hit by the recent monsoon rains and floods.

A state of emergency was declared in those calamity-hit areas by the relief, rehabilitation and settlement department under Section 16 (A)(1) of the National Disaster Management (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) (Amendment) Act, 2019, at the request of the relevant district administrations and on the recommendation of the Pakistan Disaster Management Authority.

The cabinet also approved the establishment of the “sessions’ divisions and civil divisions” in the newly-created Upper and Lower South Waziristan districts. The sessions and civil courts will function in Spinkai Raghazai (Upper South Waziristan) and Wana (Lower South Waziristan).

The participants approved the transfer of the government’s land measuring one kanal and seven marlas in mouza Miandam of Khwazakhela tehsil in Swat district to the elementary and secondary education department for the expansion of the Government Higher Secondary School, Miandam.

The chief minister directed the finance department to approve scheduled for new expenditure for all completed schemes within a week’s time and convene meetings with the relevant departments forthwith to the early benefit of the people.

He also ordered early e-tendering for development schemes and said he would formally inaugurate the exercise soon.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2023