Abdullah Malik
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committ-ee on States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) in its Thursday meeting was brie-fed by the Secretary, Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) regarding the implementation status of previous recommendations of the Committee regarding doubling of seats for erstwhile FATA students in medical/Dental colleges across the country that the notification of doubling of the said seats in all provinces has already been issued except Baluchistan.
Whereupon the Committee appreciated and thanked the Secretary PMC, HEC and the Secretary M/o SAFRON on their untiring efforts and cooperation in resolving the said issue and the Committee further directed the Secretary M/o SAFRON to personally contact with the Government of Baluchistan regarding the doubling of quota in the Bolan Medical College with immediate effect in order to implement the Cabinet decision made in its meeting held on 2nd March, 2017 in letter and spirit.
The Secretary PMC further informed that the PMC has already been allocated the Medical/Dental seats for Baluchistan and FATA students under the PSDP project and issued notification to the HEC for further necessary action. The Members of the Committee raised their serious concern on not finalizing/uploading the merit list and directed the Project Director, HEC to finalize and upload the merit list without any further delay and submit back report to the Committee.
The Committee further directed the Secretary PMC to extend the date of admission in the medical/dental colleges for erstwhile FATA students as requested by the Deputy Secretary, Home and Tribal Affairs Department and Project Director, HEC.
The Secretary, Zakat and Usher Department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also briefly briefed the Committee over the steps being taken for distribution of zakat in the Merged Districts.
He added that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Zakat and Usher Council has already been constituted and Rs. 146.268 Million have been allocated as Zakat fund for Merged Districts on the basis of their population, which shall be released shortly as and when the local Zakat committees are constituted.
The Committee recommended that increase the Guzara Allowance and Jahaiz Allowance and evolve a mechanism to distribute the Zakat to deserving people in transparent way.
The Committee further directed the Secretary Zakat and Usher Department, KP to regularize the services of the employees working since 2003-04 in the department.
The Committee further decided that Secretaries P&D and C&W Departments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be invited in the next meeting to brief the Committee on the ongoing/proposed development projects in the Merged Districts.
