Daily Times

The Council of Common Interests (CCI) on Thursday decided to transfer the schools of National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and Basic Education Community Schools (BECS) along with their teachers and students to their respective provinces.

Chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, the 42nd meeting of the CCI took the decision while deliberating upon the future role and functioning of NCHD and BECS.

“It was decided, in principle, to transfer the existing NCHD and BECS schools, teachers and students from the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training to the education departments of respective provinces or regions,” a PM Office press release said.

The process will be completed before closing of the current financial year.

The CCI directed the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, in consultation with the provinces, to formulate a transition and integration plan which would be presented during next CCI meeting.

The meeting considered the proposed amendment in the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002, as suggested by the Government of Sindh.

The CCI tasked the Ministry of Petroleum to explore the possibility of providing the provinces with a suitable mechanism to give their input to the regulatory body.

The meeting considered the request of Government of Punjab for handing over control of lower portion of the Chashma Right Bank Canal from the Ministry of Water Resources to it.

Agreeing to the proposal, the body constituted a committee comprising representatives of Indus River System Authority (IRSA), Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments to work out modalities and finalize bilateral agreement between the two provinces.

The strategy to Combat COVID-19 was presented before the CCI that was appreciated.

Discussing the issue of sharing of windfall levy, it was decided that 50% share of the receipts, collected under the head windfall levy on crude oil, condensate and natural gas under the Petroleum Policy, 2012, would be shared with the concerned province.

The meeting approved placement of annual reports for the years 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20 before the Senate and the National Assembly.

The body also reviewed the implementation status of the decisions of 41st meeting.

Discussing recommendations of the Attorney General for Pakistan on Water Accord 1991, the CCI was informed that a committee comprising technical experts of federal and provincial governments had been notified to look into the issue of fair distribution of water among provinces. The Council directed the committee to complete its work in a month.

The meeting was also apprised about the progress on installation of Telemetry System.

The CCI unanimously approved Alternative & Renewable Energy Policy 2019.

Special Assistant to the PM on Petroleum Nadeem Babar gave a detailed presentation to the CCI on annual demand and supply situation of gas with special reference to future requirements and dwindling domestic gas reserves.

While presenting gas production, consumption and transmission data from various provinces, it was informed that the country would face major gas shortage by winter 2021-2022.

It was recommended that a national consensus needed to be built for major push for new exploration and production, conservation of domestic gas and rationalization of price mechanisms to avoid impending crises.

The meeting was informed that the Federal Government was organizing a summit of industry experts to discuss various options to meet the impending challenge and requested the provinces for their active participation.