PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has said the sustainable development of the merged tribal districts is the government’s top priority.

“We are taking result-oriented steps for the speedy development of tribal districts under a comprehensive strategy in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“I monitor their implementation so that they’re completed within the stipulated time to the benefit of the people,” he told a consultative meeting of lawmakers from tribal districts here the other day on the region’s development portfolio for the upcoming Annual Development Programme.

Federal religious affairs minister Noorul Haq Qadri, adviser to the chief minister on information Ajmal Wazir, provincial relief and rehabilitation minister Iqbal Wazir and special assistant to the chief minister on excise and taxation Ghazan Jamal, elected parliamentarians from tribal districts attended the meeting.

The chief minister said efforts for the sustainable development of an area won’t yield the desired results until the local population and relevant stakeholders were consulted and that it has been the basic guiding principle for the government that no development schemes in the tribal districts would be initiated without the consultation of the elected representatives of the locals.

Mahmood says he’s monitoring schemes’ implementation

He said the merger of the former tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was a historic development.

Mr Mahmood said under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government had been able to complete the entire process in a short period of time and in a very smooth manner.

“After smoothly completing the merger process, the government is now taking concrete steps for the accelerated development of the areas to bring them on a par with other developed areas of the province.

“I hope that the merger will benefit the people of merged areas soon,” he said.

About the demand of the legislators to accelerate the pace of implementation on the development schemes in tribal areas, the chief minister directed the authorities concerned for the immediate and necessary measures to that effect.

The elected representatives lauded the leading role of the prime minister and Chief Minister Mahmood Khan for the smooth merger of the former tribal areas and said without the personal involvement of both leaders, the merger would’ve not been possible in such a short span of time.

The participants thanked the chief minister for holding the consultative session to consult them on the upcoming development programme of tribal districts.

The chief minister said such sessions would be held in future, too, to take them on board about the development of merged areas.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2020