The Senate’s Special Committee on 24 demands made by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has asked the Centre and province to sit together more frequently to address the demands submitted to the Senate by Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak.
The committee met under the chairmanship of Senator Muzaffar Hussain Shah here at the Parliament House on Tuesday.
Regarding the demand number seven of payment of windfall levy on oil and gas to the provinces in terms of Petroleum Policy, 2012, the committee asked the federal government to give the Law Division’s brief to the provincial government to which the latter would submit a reply on Thursday.
The federal Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources was asked to hold a meeting with the provincial department to bridge the gap in order to find a common ground of agreement. They were also asked to inform the committee’s secretary about the agreed areas of understanding as well the grey areas where no agreement was reached.
Regarding the demand number 11 on removal of moratorium on new gas connections and load extensions for industries in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa generally and gas producing districts (Karak, Kohat and Hangu) in particular, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources was asked to give in writing about the number of applications received for gas connections and the number of connections given.
About the demand number 24 relating to extra land available: railway track for mass transit system, the federal railways secretary told the committee that the land had to be used for Peshawar, Jalalabad and Peshawar-Lahore routes as part of CPEC and could not be given to the KP government.
When the province argued that the track demanded was not in total use and parts of it were almost abandoned, the committee asked the federal government to share the feasibility reports with the KP government.
During the meeting, the demands relating to the Ministry of Water and Power were termed to be almost resolved with the exception of payment of money by the end of this financial year and receipt of PC1s of some power related projects. Upon this, the committee sought a written reply from the federal ministry. The committee also asked the provincial Planning Department to give its report relating to demands and act on the committee’s directions expeditiously.
