Cataloguing development in K-P: CM’s aide unveils six-month performance report\

Ghani outlines sector-wise developmental schemes and their current status in the province

PESHAWAR: Adviser to the Chief Minister on Information and Higher Education Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani has presented the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government with a six-month performance report that catalogues the records of all developments in that timeframe.

In a news conference held on Wednesday, Ghani described sector-wise developmental schemes and their current status. He said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government’s main focus was on the improvement of the health and education sectors. He said that from 2011 till 2012, the estimated budget for health was Rs8 billion, which rose to Rs25 billion in the 2016-2017 budget. The developmental budget for health was Rs 7.5 billion in 2011-2012 which has risen to Rs10.54 billion in 2016-2017, the minister said.



On the performance of K-P health, Mushtaq Ghani, who is also a spokesman for the provincial government, explained that Rs1.12 billion has been allocated for the development of teaching hospitals and district hospitals upon which work has already been started.

He said that two medical colleges (Gajo Khan Medical College Swabi, and Nowshera Medical College) have been established and Rs4 billion has been released for providing facilities to the district and tehsil hospitals. Accpording to him, the current government has so far created 22,000 positions in hospitals while out of these 15,000 have been created in the current year. He said that 184 district specialists, 1,675 medical officers, 1,097 paramedics, 1,480 nurses and 1,502 lady health workers have been appointed by this government.

Ghani said that doctor’s salaries have been raised from 200% to 300% which is a record increase in salaries as compared to the other provinces for which the government has kept an additional Rs5.46 billion.

About service delivery, the minister said that the provincial government has provided free emergency treatment and started a Rs925 million programme for the treatment of diabetes and chronic diseases in children.

On the performance of the development of K-P’s elementary and secondary education department the spokesman said that Rupees 12.45 billion has been allocated for 47 developmental schemes in the education sector in the current year. He added that Rs19 billion has already been spent on 64 ongoing schemes while Rs2.42 billion for eight new schemes.

In the higher education sector, construction has started on 42 colleges and four public libraries, while at the same time, the government has approved the construction for a Girls Cadet College in Mardan and the Abdul Wali Khan University campuses in Bunner and Chitral.

The minister said that Rs37 billion has also been allocated for the law and justice department, in which a bar room will be constructed for lawyers in Swat and Abbottabad, and Rs7 billion has been allocated for sports and tourism while above 30 sports grounds are  also included in the scheme.

The minister said that Right to Service department has received 8,576,440 applications on which the government has taken action on 8,570,603 applications.

Similarly, the Right to Information has received 8,092 complaints out of which the government has taken action on 5,279 applications while 594 are under process.

In 2016, he said, the police registered cases against 190 terrorists, 196 anti-terrorism, 9,972 on different crimes and 3,297 on disputed land crimes. Police have arrested 103,198 people involved in different criminal cases, they have registered 4,155 traffic-related cases and 43,935 different other cases.

The provincial government has allocated Rs33 billion for the district government while a huge amount has been released to the TMAs, villages and neighbourhoods.

Some Rs34 billion has been allocated for the construction of Swat Express Highway which will be completed till 2017.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2016.