Opposition decries ‘illegal transfer of teachers’

CM’s aide says 775 teachers transferred back to home districts

QUETTA: Opposition lawmakers have accused the provincial education department of hiring teachers on the basis of favouritism and then posting them to Quetta instead of the districts they belonged to.

Raising the issue in the Balochistan Assembly, Balochistan National Party-Mengal  (BNP-M) MPA Malik Naseer Shahwani alleged that 428 government teachers from other districts had been posted in Quetta. “Instead of sitting in Quetta, they should return to their districts,” he added.

Refuting the allegation, Adviser to the CM on Secondary Education Muhammad Khan Lehri said 775 teachers had been transferred back to districts where they were appointed.

“However, it’s the government policy to appoint spouses in the same city,” he pointed out.

The Parliamentary Leader of the PTI in the Balochistan Assembly and Special Assistant to the PM Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind demanded the formation of a parliamentary committee to probe the issue. He, however, maintained that people from all districts had right to work in Quetta.

Wrapping up the debate, Deputy Speaker Sardar Babar Musakhail ruled that illegal attachments of government employees should be cancelled.

Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party MPA Nasrullah Zeeray drew the attention of the house to the lack of facilities for disabled people in the province.

“If a disabled person seeks to observe the Balochistan Assembly’s proceedings, they can’t do it because there isn’t any lift for them,” he lamented.

Replying to him, Provincial Social Welfare Development Minister Asadullah Baloch pledged to take sincere measures to facilitate disabled people.

“Unfortunately, disabled persons have been neglected in the province but the incumbent government is making earnest efforts to ensure facilities for them,” he maintained.

Speaking on the skill development programme for youth in Awaran district after a devastating earthquake in 2013, provincial Finance Minister Meer Zahoor Buledi said former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif had provided Rs70 million to the province for this purpose.

“The government has appointed young people in district on contractual basis but as the funds have been stopped, we are appointing them to the education department,” Buledi added.

Provincial Population Minister Sardar Abdul Rehman Kethran informed the house that the Balochistan chief minister had formed a committee headed by him to probe the illegal appointments made during the caretaker regime.

“We didn’t find any appointments during the caretaker regime led by former caretaker chief minister Allaudin Marri,” he maintained.

On talks between the provincial and federal governments about gas royalty, Parliamentary Secretary Mubeen Khilji told the house that an agreement was yet to be finalised. He added that the first round of talks with the federal government had remained inconclusive.

BNP-M’s Sanaullah Baloch asked the treasury members to make the gas royalty signed in 2015 public as according to his information, it was against government policy and law.

Provincial Finance Minister Zahoor Buledi assured the opposition members that the Balochistan chief minister had categorically told the federal government that the province’s participation must be ensured while signing any treaty about its resources.

“After the 18th Amendment, the province has become a 50% partner in every development project,” he added.

Sanaullah accused cabinet members of intervening in the matters of the opposition members’ constituencies. “The Balochistan chief minister is running government affairs on WhatsApp and no development can be seen on the ground,” he claimed.

The provincial assembly passed resolutions on the expansion of Quetta-Chaman Highway, setting up a high court bench in Kharan and a medical college in Naseerabad and the cancellation of illegal land allotments in Quetta’s Killi Sabeel area.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2019.