Cabinet approves first sports policy for Pakhtunkhwa

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak presided over a meeting of the provincial cabinet that approved the first sports policy of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the cabinet room of civil secretariat.

The public and private sector educational institutions would serve as nurseries for the promotion of sports and sporting facilities would be created at a school level. Under the policy, sports would be given the status of an industry and large-scale competitions would be conducted for the talent hunt.

At the provincial level, sports management committee would be formed for encouraging sportsman and a mechanism would be evolved for the provision of facilities, infrastructure, encouragement and award to the sportsman.

The cabinet meeting was attended by provincial ministers, additional chief secretary, administrative secretaries and other relevant officials. The cabinet approved monthly honoraria for minority religious worship places leaders on the pattern of Ulmas of mosques in the province. This would facilitate 293 minority prayer leaders of other minority religions and the provincial government would bear out an additional expenditure of Rs. 140 million.

The provincial cabinet also agreed to sell out the remaining 197 kanal 14 marla chunk of land for the benefit of religious rituals of Ahle-Tashees. However, the legal side of the property would have to be looked into and necessary requirements fulfilled because the property is evacuee property and the Auqaf department would have to transfer the land to the provincial government.

The cabinet also approved the proposal of constructing net hydel power stations in forest growing areas and these hydel power stations would be environmental friendly. Under this approach the Sukhi Kinari hydel power project with the capacity of 870 Megawatt electricity production hydel power station would be established which would cost 1.8 billion US dollar. 2% earning of this project would be spent on forest growth.

The provincial cabinet also approved the reconstitution of regional authorities under the motor vehicle ordinance. The provincial cabinet also approved delegation of power to the local government department to act against the illegal housing societies under the local government act 2013. Such societies which either did not get the required NoC and even did not fulfill the laid down procedure. The fine on these societies would be upto one crore rupees with minimum to 50 lac rupees.

According to the statistics, there are 55 registered and 160 unregistered housing societies. The cabinet also approved the transfer of 400 kanal of land of C&W department to forest and tourism departments. The forest department raised nurseries and planted trees on 2000 kanal of land and the remaining 2000 kanal of land would be transferred to tourism department for developing it on tourism lines and constructing botanical parks that would promote tree plantation, environmental protection and raising job opportunities in southern districts of the province.

The cabinet also approved amendments in the local government act 2013. Under this, the department would have the power to approve the budget of village or neighborhood council if both could not pass their budgets. The department would relegate the power to an officer to pass the budget. Before, the cabinet had to pass the budget. The provincial cabinet also approved an alternate system of dispute resolution at local government system. The cabinet also approved the restructuring of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Housing Authority.

The cabinet also cleared the construction of small dam in Nowshera as it was earlier approved before the leasing out of a site to a cement factory. However, the cabinet agreed to the relocation of the site, if possible with controlled explorational mining activity in the area. The cabinet also agreed in principle to the upgradation of Patwaris.

Addressing the cabinet, the Chief Minister said that the approval of monthly honoraria to the religious leaders of the minority worship places was an extension and the second phase of the government steps. The first steps was the start of the honoraria to the Ulmas of mosques throughout the province adding that his government had done effective legislation to make right the direction of public sector institutions so that they could deliver in consonance with the people aspirations.

This province offers a lot of opportunities for hydropower generation. His government has done the initial work and reminded that the net hydel power generation was the ultimate future of the country that could guarantee the expeditious development of the whole of the country.