Govt asked to review law on minerals

PESHAWAR: The speakers at a daylong debate on Saturday urged the government to review the recently passed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minerals Sector Governance (Amendment) Bill, 2019. Intellectuals, political workers and people attached to mines business attended the debate held at the Peshawar Press Club under the auspices of Minerals Development Network on the chances, promotion and challenges faced by the people of merged districts. Prominent among the speakers were Dr Syed Alam Mehsud, Meraj Afridi, Zahir Shah Safi, Jangraiz Khan and others. The speakers discussed threadbare the mines and mineral bills passed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and how to remove the lacunas from it. They said that KP particularly the merged districts were rich in mineral resources and deposits of gold, marble, oil, gas and precious stones but the government was not ready to give the local people rights over their own resources. They criticised the government for not issuing licences to the local people through the recently passed bill from provincial assembly.

Under the new law, the speakers said getting licence had been made difficult for locals, urging the government to review its decision.