MARDAN: Provincial Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Mohammad Atif Khan on Wednesday inaugurated the `Sasta Ata and Ghee` scheme for the poor people of the district.

A ceremony to this effect was held at the Town Hall which was also attended by PTI MPA Zahid Durani, deputy commissioner Sahidullah Khan and a large number of people belonging to poor families.

On the occasion, the minister said that the PTI-led provincial government was committed to taking measures for raising life standard of common man.

He pointed out that the provincial government had decided to provide subsidised flour and ghee to poor families. Under the programme, he said, a coupon would be provided to every poor person to get subsidy of Rs10 per kg on purchase of 40 1(ilogram flour bag and Rs40 per kg on purchase of five kg ghee per month.

Atif Khan said that around 60,000 people would benefit from the scheme in Mardan district.

He said that the provincial government had earmarked Rs500 million for differentdevelopmental projects for Mardan district. He said that the provincial government wanted to eradicate corruption from departments, especially police and revenue departments.

The minister said that the provincial government had planned to launch more and more developmental schemes in Mardan and other districts of the province in near future so that people could see change promised by PTI.

S C H O L A R S H I P S AWARDED: The scholarship selection committee of the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan on Wednesday recommended five candidates for overseas PhD scholarships, batch-XL The decision was taken at the 48th meeting of the committee chaired by vice-chancellor Professor Dr Ihsan Ali.

The scholarships were advertised on August 14, 2014 and September 1, 2014 was the last date for the submission of application forms along with required documents.

Among the shortlisted applicants, the committee unanimously recommended five candidates in the subject areas of computer science, environmental sciences and management sciences.