In order to discuss the post 18th constitutional amendment affairs and problems of the environmental department, a meeting of the oversight committee on implementation of 18th constitutional amendment was held with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister Information and Cultural Mian Iftikhar Hussain in the chair at Peshawar.
According to an official hand out issued on Sunday, beside its members Minister for Education Sardar Hussain Babak, Environment Minister Wajid Ali Khan, Adnan Wazir MPA, Secretaries of Administration and Inter Provincial Coordination Departments and Additional Secretary Environment attended the meeting. Senator Afrasiab Khattak member of the implementation commission attended the meeting on special invitation.
The participants have discussed in depth affairs of the Wildlife, Fisheries departments and Environmental Protection Agency. In particular, the meeting discused on affairs of Pakistan Forest Institute and decided that it would continue to work as attached department of the Environment Department to ensure its enhanced role and provision of better services to the entire country in future.
The meeting was informed that 95% staff of PFI belonged to other provinces, but the provincial government did not disturb them to ensure their job security. Similarly, the meeting after thorough deliberation stressed the federal government to share the composition, powers and functions of the national environmental council with all the provincial governments and include representatives one each from the provinces in it. The meeting also discussed the challenge of the climate change and the role of environment department in detail. The meeting also proposed a research and survey branch in environment department on the pattern of geological survey of Pakistan. Briefly speaking on the occasion, Chairman of the Oversight Committee Mian Iftikar Hussain maintained that the proposal of holding a separate meeting with the department were meant to discuss to review the post 18th Constitutional Amendment role and remove bottlenecks if any. He asked the heads of the department to take into confidence political leadership as well as the general public on issues of common interest.
