PESHAWAR:The opposition parties in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday criticized the provincial government for not allocating a sufficient amount for the development of merged tribal districts in the fiscal budget 2022-23.
JUI member Mahmood Bittani continuing budget debate in the provincial assembly said that that no funds were allocated for upgradation of heath facilities in the Southern and merged districts especially the merged districts of North and South Waziristan.
He said that a lease agreement was signed by the PTI government for 12 districts of the province, under which a health emergency was declared in those districts and promises were made to upgrade the existing hospitals in those areas.
He said that still the upgradation was not implemented and people of North and South Waziristan came to Tank district to avail medical facilities, but unfortunately the district didn’t have sufficient facilities.
He said not a single project was completed by the PTI government in any of the district of the province, adding that health and education sectors should be prioritized.
PML-N MPA Ikhtiar Wali Khan waved the IMF agreement of Imran Khan during the budget speech and said that if Imran wanted to take credit of FATF, then he should also own the prevailing price-hike, unemployment, poor economy, hiked electricity bills and expensive gas because he signed an agreement with IMF under unfavourable conditions.
He said that the Imran government left no option for Pakistan, other than to opt and accept all the terms and conditions of IMF.
Ikhtiar said that Nawaz Sharif brought peace in KP and granted rights to tribal people, adding that it was PMLN government which established universities in Dara Adam Khel and Waziristan.
On the contrary, he said, the PTI government snatched the budget of merged districts and did not even allocate amount to parliamentarians from the merged districts under the head of development fund.
Referring to exclusion of tribal people from health card facility, he said that under the 18th constitutional amendment the provinces had been financially empowered and all the powers of the police, irrigation, public health and local government were vested in the provincial government.
He said the KP government also deprived the tribal people of 25,000 jobs and paid no attention to the southern districts.
PTI MPA Madiha Nisar said that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan was paying special attention to resolve issues of southern districts, adding that completion of D. I. Khan Motorway would solve transportation problems in those districts.
Balochistan Awami Party member Shafiq Sher said that the current budget for the erstwhile FATA districts was Rs 124 billion, of which Rs 75 billion was for salaries, Rs one billion for pensions and Rs 45 billion for other expenditures.
He said that the funds for were not utilized and the elected representatives are not consulted in this regard. He said the people in the bureaucracy wanted to fail the merger.
PTI MPA Abdul Islam said that PTI would continue its struggle for the establishment of an independent and sovereign state. He expressed gratitude to Chief Minister Mahmood Khan for allocating funds for Women’s University of Mardan, Girls Cadet College, Engineering University, up-gradation of DHQ hospital Mardan, MMC Hospital and other education specific projects.
PPP MPA Ahmed Kundi criticized the provincial government for not allocating any fund for Chashma Lift Bank Canal but the federal government allocated Rs 500 million.
Independent member Mir Kalam asked what had the provincial government done so far for the return and rehabilitation of IDPs, adding that those people were still living in camps and the government had suspended funds for them.
He said that project employees of the ex-FATA districts were still waiting for regularization of their services, adding that measures should be taken to ensure that the funds of those district might not get lapsed.
He said that tribal districts were being excluded in the health card service, but in any case the provincial government would have to include those.
He said that on one hand the provincial government was making hue and cry that the central government was not releasing funds, but on the other hand the government was increasing perks and privileges of cabinet members.
ANP member Samar Bilour said that 90 percent of the budget resources were at the mercy of foreign countries.
She said that district wise fund had not been distributed fairly, adding that Peshawar faced the brunt of terrorism and even the burden came to hospitals, schools, colleges, universities and bazaars in the city, rather the government developed infrastructure in Swat and Haripur.
She also criticized the provincial government in allocation of development funds and said that the constituencies of ANP were totally ignored.
She said that the government had promised that 30 percent of the funds would be given to the LG representatives but only 20 percent was distributed.
Later, ANP members staged protest over remarks against Bacha Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly by PTI member Sajida Hanif.