Opposition, treasury benches unite against poor rest houses

PESHAWAR: One thing which unified the opposition and the treasury benches of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly on Tuesday was their resentment over the poor arrangements made at rest houses in Islamabad and Abbottabad.

Assembly members from both sides of the aisle demanded that administration of the MPA hostel in the provincial capital should be handed over to the K-P Assembly speaker after taking it away from the K-P Administration department.

Assembly members further accused the administrators of the K-P House in Islamabad and in Abbottabad of renting out rooms to people other than members of the K-P assembly, all the while members have to wait to secure any room.

They further demanded that the K-P Assembly speaker and his staff take over administration of these two government accommodations.

K-P Minister for Local Government Shahram Khan Tarakai — who was among the few who championed the cause of opening up government-owned guesthouses to tourists in a bid to raise greater revenue, second the accusations levelled by members of the opposition and treasury benches.

Owing to poor management of the hostel and K-P House, he demanded to secure the affairs of the three entities under the K-P Assembly speaker.

Provincial Law Minister Sultan Muhammad Khan assured lawmakers on both sides that the standing committee should file their respective reports, only then will they be in a position to take a decision on this subject.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2019.