Peshawar: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cabinet constituted a committee to look into the grievances of the officers of the attached departments and the directives of the Peshawar High Court concerning reducing disparities in the salaries of the officers of attached departments and other cadres. The cabinet committee comprised of Advisor to Chief Ministers on Finance, Minister/Secretaries P&D, Establishment, and Population Welfare.
The High Court had on a writ petition filed by over 973 officers of different attached departments directed the government to redress the grievances of the petitioners concerning granting them allowances allowed to officers of other cadres @ 1.5 of the basic pay in light of article 38(e) of the Constitution and the Principle of policy as provided in Article 29(2) and to remove disparity/discrimination among the civil servants.
The Finance Department has opposed the demand on the grounds of resource crunch and financial crises of the province. Its financial implications have been estimated to be over Rs.971/- million per year.
The Provincial cabinet which met Wednesday evening under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Mr. Ali Amin Khan Gandapur was actively participated by Chief Secretary, Ministers, advisers and administrative secretaries. It took several decisions about the affairs of the province.
The cabinet approved the release of Rs.1.15 billion funds as Eid Package for distribution among the 115000 poor individuals of the province at the rate of Rs.10,000/- per head/family. The package will also include the families of police martyrs to whom the Police Department, already having their details, will directly disburse these amounts.
The cabinet approved the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right of Digital Way Policy providing a frame work to facilitate the deployment of fiber connectivity through prompt resolution of public and private right-of-way issues commonly faced by telecom operators thereby leading to an increase in fiber connectivity. With this, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa becomes the first province to have a Right of Digital Way policy as aligned with the Federal Public and Private Right of (digital) Way Policy Directive 2021.
A Committee comprising Ministers/Secretaries C&W, Irrigation and Local Government Departments was also constituted to adopt this policy in a unified manner throughout the province.
Another Committee was constituted to categorize within 15 days the posts recruitment to which should be done through ETEA or the technical Departments/organizations themselves.
The cabinet also directed that all Provincial departments/organizations must get NOC from ETEA before conducting screening tests for recruitment through private organizations (other than ETEA).
The Provincial cabinet approved Zone Development Agreement for the Pakistan Digital City Haripur project. The Pakistan digital City Haripur is the first purpose-built Special Technology Zones (STZ) in Pakistan being developed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board under the administration of the Science and Technology & Information Technology Department.
The project has already secured a license from Special Technology Zones Authority (STZA). With the approval of the agreement by the Cabinet different incentives to the zone developers can be extended bringing considerable growth in their economy through improvement in their IT exports. The cabinet also directed that the civil work over the main offices and basic infrastructure must be completed urgently.
The Provincial cabinet also approved the “Draft Rules for the post of PEDO Chief Executive Officer and Members of the Executive Committee (terms and conditions) Rules, 2024”; borrowing loan amounting US$ 30.000 million from Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) to participate in financing of reconstruction of infrastructure of Malakand region; the retention of 100 BS-17 head nurses in MTI’s Hospitals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; and purchase of different gadgets and equipment for police in the Newly merged districts. It also endorsed the earlier decision of the caretaker cabinet increasing the rate of infrastructure development Cess under section -3 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Infrastructure Development Cess Act. 2022.
The Provincial cabinet also decided to realign its stance with the rest of the provinces, in respect of its share of repaying the previously secured loan amounting to US$ 88.673 million (from the total secured previous loan of US$ 487 million) and take it up with Council of Common Interest (CCI) in line with the agreement shown by the rest of the provinces.