RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions was given a briefing on Tuesday by FATA Secretariat about placement criteria adopted for the officers of M&E Directorate in the light of previous discussions held in the committee.

The meeting discussed in detail whether the project employees are to be dealt according to the project policy or the service rules for contractual employees. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Senator Hilal-ur-Rehman.

The meeting was informed about the inquiry conducted by the ministry regarding issue of appointments in Tesco. The senators decided to recommend to the committee on Water and Power to look into the matter of holding similar enquiries of other Discos.

Regarding overall working of FATA Minerals Exploration and Development Authority, the committee was given a briefing about the process of mines exploration and development. The committee was told that the process starts from prospect identification and evaluation, then a pilot plant scale study is conducted which leads to resource estimation, outsourcing of mineral deposits, licensing, leases, revenue collection, inspection of mines rescue, training and infrastructural development. The committee was briefed that so far 12 exploration licences were issued and out of these 10 were later cancelled. At present, only two licences are in place.

The meeting also discussed matters of tax collection by mineral department, legal status of lease agreements, collection and utilization of ADF/CESS/tax/rahdari from mines and minerals.