ISLAMABAD: The meeting of Senate Special Committee on Marginalised Segments was held in Islamabad on Monday.
The meeting was attended by Senator Sanaa Toori, Muhammad Ali Khan Saif, Senator Sitara Ayaz, Senator Rubina Irfan, Senator Rubina Khalid and officials from the Planning and Development Ministry and Finance Ministry.
The senators aired their concerns about the welfare of backward areas and stressed that smaller provinces are always neglected in development budgets during the meeting.
The senators were told in a briefing by officials from the Planning Ministry that in coastal and border areas of the country the poverty rate is highest, while the poverty ratio is on the decline in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.
“In Punjab the poverty ratio stands at 37 pc, in Sindh at 43 pc, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 49 pc, in Balochistan at 71 pc, in FATA at 73 pc, in Gilgit-Baltistan at 43 pc, and in Azad Jammu Kashmir at 34 pc,” the officials told the senators, adding that “in rural area the poverty rate stands at 54 pc”.
Committee Convener Senator Nisar Muhammad said that even this year a separate budget had been allocated for the prime minister’s special programmes. He lamented that the allocation was not made on the regional basis.
“The terrorism-hit 750 families are yet to receive the special package, while 25 cores each have been given to 170 constituencies,” he said, adding that the Planning and Development Ministry and Finance Ministry while making their budget on basis of population should pay heed to the marginalised segments of society.
Senator Muhammad Ali Khan Saif, while speaking at the occasion, stressed that the benefits of annual development programmes must reach the common people.
“Gwadar will be the hub of investment in future, yet the residents still are deprived of drinking water,” said Senator Rubina Irfan.
The special committee has decided to visit Chitral and Gwadar and in the next meeting the committee will take up the agenda of National Commission for Human Rights.