As the residents of tribal districts are heavily criticizing the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government for terminating millions of Sehet Insaf Cards on the pretext of lack of funds, the Provincial Finance Minister Taimur Jaharga has once again shifted the blame to the federal government.
Sehat cards have been terminated in the tribal districts to the dismay of the local residents who demand that tribal districts are now part of K-P and the provincial government is responsible for its funding rather than the federal government.
While responding to the criticism, Taimur Jhaghra said that the decision to stop the Sehat Card for 1.2 million families of the tribal districts is a unilateral and an illegal act by the federal government.
He added that the responsibility for this criminal act rests with all the parties in the federal government, Including PML-N, JUI-F, PPP, ANP and others including the ‘so called tribal’ representatives such as Mohsin Dawar.
He maintained that Shehbaz Sharif announced medical colleges and universities but in reality, he is taking away their basic right to health services.
He is truly proving himself to be a ‘crime minister’ for K-P, he added.
“The federal government is hiding behind a summary approved by the PM Imran Khan, saying that Imran Khan decided to transfer the Sehat Card without funding. This is a lie” he added.
He also said that the summary approved the transfer of the programme, and asked for the PC1 to be revised, and for funding modalities to be approved by the CDWP, where K-P is represented by ACS P&D. None of this has happened. No revised PC1 has been brought to the CDWP.
“This means that while funding is approved, and the PC1 covers the tribal districts, funds are only not being received by the tribal citizens, while people of Islamabad, Punjab, GB and Kashmir continue to receive funding. This may be challenged in the court” he observed.
Reminding of merged areas budget cuts, Taimur says that since no revised NFC is in place, any spending by K-P in the tribal districts is dependent on federal transfers.
The federal government cannot transfer liabilities to K-P without funding.
“In particular in a year where the current budget transferd by the federal government for Fata is Rs60 billion, down from Rs77 billion. This is Rs25 billion less than actual costs for next year,” he said.
Referring to official correspondence minister for health and finance claimed that the health department already wrote in response to a letter by the centre, to say that the federal government cannot unilaterally transfer the Fata Sehat Card programme to K-P without agreement on cost.
“The question of how K-P will finance this comes later. At this point, the entire federal government and allies need to apologise for their actions to the people of Fata and reverse their decision” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 3rd, 2022.
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