To give impetus to the socio-economic uplift of hitherto neglected areas of former federally administered tribal areas, a 10 years comprehensive and ambitious development plan is in place now. It will be implemented with an outlay of Rs 1228 billion to ensure speedy and balanced growth of all important sectors. A lion share of Rs.434 billion on the rehabilitation work and infrastructure development. However, human resource development will also get top most priority with the allocation of Rs. 409 billion which will be a record development expenditure on a single sector.
An amount of Rs. 251 billion will be allocated for maximum benefits accruing projects in agriculture, livestock, industry and mining. It would have been better if the construction of micro and small hydel power stations have also been included in the plan to overcome the chronic problem of power outages in the tribal districts. The process of industrial and agriculture development will be a non-starter if the availability of inexpensive electricity for almost 20 hours is not ensured.
Federal government and governments of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and Punjab have agreed to allocate 3 percent financial resources from federal divisible pool of revenue for the uplift of tribal district In the under deliberation NFC award. The availability of development funds has never been a serious issue of the tribal areas of former FATA. It was the lopsided approach in development strategies, skewed priorities, one man say is the order of day rule, and lack of transparency in development expenditure that kept the now merged district backward.
Even after the ongoing process of complete merger the forces of statisque are bent upon to continue the non-transparent and skewed strategies of economic development by slamming the doors on community participation. The formation of parliamentary committee comprising headed by the Chief Ministers and including Senators and members National Assembly of tribal areas is a smart move in this regard.
The committee will become functional when the process of merger of tribal districts will be completed. It has been mandated with tasks of redressing the complaints of the tribesmen; overseeing the utilisation of development funds, and implementation of uplift schemes on time. It was decided by the decision makers that local bodies’ polls will be held in the tribal districts early this year before the elections to 15 Provincial Assembly seats that will be created in the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Assembly. Does, the formation of parliamentary advisory committee with one of its mandated functions of overseeing the developmental activities imply a likely delay in holding of Local Bodies’ polls? These are the institutions that can ensure the implementation of strategies of balanced socio-economic uplift of tribal districts. The Senators and members National Assembly elected from the former FATA have remained involved in the implementation of development schemes for decades which produced the culture of lopsided development by excluding community participation. There is no need to continue the dismally failed strategy for implementing the projects of peoples’ welfare.
The capacity of line departments for the optimum utilisation of released development funds has never been satisfactory and every year 70 percent funds get lapsed. Capacity building and expansion of nation building departments on urgent basis is inevitable.
The merged districts are endowed with a number of precious minerals. A mineral development policy had been announced in 2016 which is yet to take off. In the past colossal waste of minerals have been witnessed due usage of obsolete mining technology. There are a number of potential sites for the construction of small dams to conserve water resources for irrigation and drinking purposes. The plan of setting up industrial zones, the reconstruction opportunity zones, needs to be revived. The primary healthcare system is non-existent and the secondary healthcare in the shape of sub divisional and former Agency Headquarter and now tribal District Headquarters hospitals is in shamble. The current dismal socio-economic scenario requires speedy implementation of uplift projects with judicious and transparent mechanisms for spending of the available financial resources.
