PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to provide Rs10,000 monthly honorarium to each prayer leader in the province from July 1.
The scheme would benefit around 22,000 prayer leaders. The provincial government will spend an amount of approximately Rs2.5 billion per year for this purpose
The decision was made in a meeting of Auqaf department chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan. Minister for Finance Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Auqaf Zahoor Shakir and Auqaf and Religious Affairs Secretary Shahid Sohail attended the meeting.
CM KP Mahmood Khan said the seminaries and mosques across the province will be converted to solar energy to ensure uninterrupted power supply besides the provision of other requirements on a priority basis.
The meeting was briefed about the reforms being introduced to strengthen the department and the proposed business plan to ensure better utilisation of the commercial properties of Auqaf across the province.
Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Auqaf Zahoor Shakir said assistant commissioners were directed to provide the data of prayer leaders across the province including the merged tribal districts.
He said that the department did not have accurate data of mosques and prayer leaders in the merged districts and the scheme would be formally launched from next financial year.
He said that one of the major reasons for delay in launching the scheme was that the Auqaf department did not have its own setup in every district. Therefore, the government has designated assistant commissioners as deputy administrators of Auqaf for maintaining data of prayer leaders and disbursement of honorarium.
He said that only those prayer leaders, who submitted their personal bank account and copy of national identity cards, would receive the honorarium. He said that many prayer leaders did not apply for the scheme on political grounds.
It is worth mentioning that JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had opposed the honorarium scheme and alleged that the government was trying to bribe religious leaders. He had urged prayer leaders affiliated with his party to boycott the scheme.
