Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Communications on Tuesday directed National Highways and Motorway Police (NH&MP) to present copy of the laid-out rules of the department in the next meeting of the committee.
If lacunas exist in those rules they should be amended, the committee decided.
The meeting was held here at Parliament House on Tuesday with Senator Prince Omar Ahmadzai in the Chair.
Senators Kamil Ali Agha, Danesh Kumar, Abida Muhammad Azeem, Shammim Afridi, Muhammad Akram, and Umer Farooq, attended the meeting. The Secretary Ministry of Communication, IG NH&MP, DIG NH&MP (west zone), Quetta and other officials from the Ministry of communication and NH&MP were also in attendance.
At the outset, the committee received a comprehensive briefing on the rules and procedures of Right of Way (ROW) under the National Highway Authority Act, 1991 and procedures and policies in this regard. “The Land acquired for construction of a National Highway or any other road assigned to the Authority” is defined as the Right of Way, GM ROW underlined.
He stated that the Right of Way comprises the road, the shoulder and the “Kacha route” beside the shoulder of the road while 220ft on either side from the centre of the road is the building line that lies beyond the ROW.
After debating the subject, the committee called for a detailed briefing on all the matters related to ROW. Senator Kamil Ali Agha, with raised eyebrows, recalled encroachment along the GT road and called for immediate action against it.
He told the Authority to take notice of the matter and revert to the committee afterwards.
The Chairman Committee hinted at scores of illegal installations of Gas stations on the N-25 highway project approaching Karachi. The Chairman while calling for ensuring safety measures along the highway, underscored that these gas stations sometimes are becoming the cause of certain damages and quoted the examples of Commissioner Turbat and Parliamentarian Zehri. He said that pulling them out is not the way forward but varied safety and security measures need to be taken. After discussing the issue the Chairman committee decided to call Chief Secretary Balochistan along with the concerned Deputy Commissioner in the next meeting.
The officials from NH&MP also briefed the committee on Criteria/policy for seniority and promotion of officers in NHA; indicating cases pending along with the reasons for a delay in each case. The officials informed that different selection committees were in place and were categorised for deciding the promotion of officers and other staff members.
Later, the Chairman called for providing a brief list of those officers fulfilling the criteria and had not been promoted yet.
