PESHAWAR: The Frontier Mines Owners A ssociation (FMOA) has said that corruption in the mineral sector of the province has not only brought down revenue by 50 per cent but also rendered thousands of people jobless.
Addressing a press conference at Peshawar Press Club here on Tuesday, FMOA president Sher Bandi Khan said that corruption had badly affected the mineral sector of the province during the last seven years and inflicted losses worth billions of rupees on it.
He appreciated National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Ehtesab Commission for the recent arrests made by them and said that they would cooperate with them in investigations.
Mr Khan said that political leaders forced honest government officials to violate rules.
He said that both the previous and incumbent government looted mineral sector as on one hand they stifled private sector and took away their investments while on the other hand losses worth billions of rupees were inflicted onthe government exchequer.
The FMOA president said that corruption was rampant in awarding licences for lease, their renewal and cancellation; royalty; auctions; illegal excavation and transfer and posting of officials. He claimed that corruption in mineral sector amounted to billions of rupees annually.
Mr Khan alleged that both the incumbent and previous government issued illegal notifications, standing orders and adopted policies to pave way for corruption. He said that those people neither respected courts nor laws and for the past seven years, mineral law had been lying in the dustbin.
The FMOA president said that they banned everything for general public while a certain mafia was facilitated in every manner. He said that if the incumbent government tried to brush the corruption under the carpet, then it would have to face the consequences.
He demanded of the government to revoke all illegal notifications issued during the past seven years and overhaul the whole system through mining concessions rules to avoid daily losses to the national exchequer worth millions of rupees.
