KP Caretaker cabinet forms panel for transition of FATA merger

PESHAWAR, Jun 19 (APP):Caretaker cabinet of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tuesday decided the formation of a cabinet committee to be headed by the Caretaker Chief Minister and comprising of the two ministers, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) FATA to identify problems and legal anomalies emerging out of the merger and finding
suitable solution for the smooth transition.
The meeting of the provincial cabinet held here with Caretaker Chief Minister Justice (Retd) Dost
Muhammad Khan in the chair.
Provincial Ministers, Chief Secretary, ACS and administrative secretaries attended the
meeting that focused on addressing the legal challenges in the wake of merger of FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The cabinet also took a number of decisions for the peaceful and transparent conduct of upcoming
elections and decided to improve the level of administrative and social justice in the province. The cabinet also agreed to introduce a policy of reward and punishment for improving the tax collection.
The cabinet was also briefed about the fiscal space of the province, the four months budgetary
proposals, the level of preparedness for the upcoming elections, the administrative steps required for good governance and creating a congenial environment for efficient delivery and improving administrative measures in order to give relief to the people and facilitate the peaceful and transparent conduct of general elections.
The cabinet committee/task force to be headed by the Caretaker Chief Minister with representation from the provincial caretaker cabinet and administration will focus on the comprehension of problems, the identification of legal anomalies emerging out of the merger and finding suitable solution for the smooth
transition in the backdrop of merger.
The mainstreaming of the tribal is the ultimate goal and the cabinet committee will work on fast
track that would take care of the financial and administrative measures and would work for the confidence building of the tribal.
Addressing the cabinet, the caretaker chief minister said the merger had brought along
legal and administrative challenges required for the speedy mainstreaming of the tribal adding that he had made up his mind to facilitate the merger with a multi prong approach.
He said he had talked to the federal finance minister for early transfer of resources both of the province and the planned money for the development and mainstreaming of newly merged areas with the province. The people of the tribal areas suffered heavily. They sacrificed everything and the armed forces had a lion’s share in the sacrifices and the struggle in the fight against militancy.
Dost Muhammad Khan said the emerging situation necessitated comprehensive administrative
measures and the caretaker set up would go whole hog to take administrative measures required for the timely, peaceful and transparent conduct of elections, ensuring quality governance and improved security situation in the province.
He said good governance requires implementation on the decisions adding that there are
three dimensions to good governance that included the correct information to plan a timely response followed by corrective measures and delivery. The caretaker government would ensure that the governance structure has the required level of efficient delivery in all spheres.
He called upon the provincial administration to keep him informed about the steps being taken
for the general elections and specially the security related issues in order to take prompt actions. He called upon the participants to take all out efforts for creating a conducive environment required for the smooth and transparent elections in the province.
The caretaker chief minister called upon the administrative secretaries to be responsive to the
administrative and social justice yardsticks that were the prerequisites for good governance. They should discourage leniency and dereliction from duty. The government machinery should be all time responsive to the required measures.