HARIPUR: A majority of Haripur District Council members on Thursday rejected a selection methodology to identify the beneficiaries of the health insurance scheme - Sehat Ka Insaf - in the district.
The view came to fore in a meeting of the Haripur District Council on Thursday, which met after a break of three months with Convener Agha Shabir in the chair.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) member district council Chaudhry Muhammad Dad pointed out that the methodology adopted by the provincial government to identify beneficiaries of the Sehat Ka Insaf Card in Haripur was against the spirit of helping the poor.
To substantiate his point, he said that most of the beneficiaries identified in the programmer were those who were already getting financial support from the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP). A majority of councilors, especially from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf backed Dad on this point. He also criticised the selection of a focal person for the distribution of the card without taking members of the local government in the confidence first.
Responding to queries, District Nazim Adil Islam told the house that the focal person for the programme had been appointed following consent from all the four MPAs who hail from Haripur.
Explaining the methodology adopted to identify beneficiaries, Islam said that it was in line with the policy of the provincial government to plug fund wastage by conducting a fresh survey. He added that the BISP survey had an error rate of 15 per cent, which meant that 85 per cent of beneficiaries were genuine. He said that carrying out a fresh survey would have cost twice as much as the financial support granted.
Flawed education policy
Leader of the Opposition Sahibzada Hamid Shah pointed out that on one hand the PTI’s government claimed to being bringing an education emergency in the region while on the other it was closing down hundreds of schools for poor strength of students.
Shah said that his party would not allow the provincial government to shut down schools.
At this, on the convener’s order, an official from the Haripur Elementary and Secondary Education School clarified that the provincial government was not closing down these schools.
Sikandar Hayat, a PTI member from Tarbela union council, criticised the nazim and deputy nazim for holding council’s session after three months. He pointed out that two months ago, some members of the district council had filed a requisition to hold a session of the council but it was not respected - which was against the rules.
Resolutions passed
Asif Ali Jah, another PTI member, moved a resolution demanding that Hindko should be declared the official language for the session.
His resolution was supported by the majority.
Sardar Latif another member of the district council from PTI presented a resolution demanding that doctors should be appointed at the Rural Health Centre Hilly and that a fully equipped laboratory, water supply and security should be ensured at the centre.
The resolution was passed unanimously by the house.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 13th, 2017.
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