Daily Times

Senate Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) has directed departments concerned to expedite work on provision of gas supply to the people merged districts of erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

The committee met here at Parliament House in chair of Senator Taj Muhammad Afridi, chairman of the committee.

The committee was briefed on funds arrangements for supply of gas to erstwhile FATA in the light of the recommendations made in the meetings of September 21.

The committee has decided to hold its next meeting in provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar to get briefing from all the departments concerned on gas supply to merged districts.

The authorities concerned briefed the committee regarding complaints received from different quarters about hardships being faced by transporters, general public and business community on Torkham Border, especially in respect of vehicles clearance.

The committee was informed that steps were being taken to reduce the hardships of transporters due to which pressure of transport was reduced on the transit point.

The committee was informed that Punjab government had approved a free education for the students of merged tribal districts. However, the universities had denies to facilitate students any more.

The committee has taken strict notice of the students protesting at Bahadudin Zakria University Multan for being denial of admission on scholarships.

The committee has sought a detail report from all the universities regarding provision of scholarships to students of erstwhile Fata. The committee was also briefed regarding the compensation to the TDPs from South Waziristan erstwhile FATA.

Members of the committee including Senator Momin Khan Afridi, Senator Aurangzeb Khan, Senator Muhammad Ayub, Senator Atta Ur Rehman, Senator Hilal ur Rehman, Senator Rana Mahmood ul Hasan, Senator Muhammad Usman Kakar and Senator Anwar Lal Din also attended the meeting.