PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Monday decided to include seminaries in the project of solarising mosques and other places of worship in the province.

The decision was made in a meeting of the energy and power department with Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur in the chair, according to an official statement.

Principal secretary to the CM Amjad Ali Khan, energy and power secretary Nisar Ahmad and other relevant officials attended the meeting.

Mr Gandapur directed authorities to take the necessary steps for the solarisation of seminaries.

He asked them to ensure that all registered seminaries in settled and merged tribal districts were covered by the solarisation project.

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“It is inevitable to put these seminaries on solar energy to benefit thousands of their students. Under this initiative, solarisation of 1,000-1,500 seminaries will be carried out across the province,” he said.

The chief minister also ordered the early appointment of the chief executive officer and executive committee members to the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation.

He said it was a matter of vital importance to complete the ongoing hydropower projects in the province.

“Authorities should ensure that these projects are completed within the stipulated time,” he said.

The chief minister also asked them to fix priorities in that respect.

He also said revenue-generating projects should be funded on a priority basis.

Also in the day, Mr Gandapur chaired a meeting of the local government department and directed authorities to release special funds for the payment of salaries and pensions to the employees of the financially weak tehsil municipal administrations in the province.

He asked them to immediately release Rs1.5 billion for the purpose.

“All those employees should be provided with a two-month salary and pension so that they do not face any kind of financial problems during the month of Ramazan as well as on the festive occasion of Eidul Fitr,” he said.

The chief minister said TMAs had been suffering from a lack of funds, which had delayed the payment of salary and pension to their employees for the last several months.

He added that non-payment of salary and pension had caused serious problems for TMA employees.

Officials briefed the chief minister about the administrative and financial matters of the department and its development projects, with a focus on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cities Improvement Project.

Local government minister Arshad Ayub, secretary Dawood Khan, and relevant officials attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2024