June 20, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 15, 1429

PESHAWAR, June19: Most of the members of NWFP Assembly from both sides of the House on Thursday criticised the provincial government for making poor allocations in the social sector and ignoring some of the districts, which according to them were glaring examples of backwardness and poverty.

Initiating debate on the annual budget for 2008-09, here in the new hall of provincial assembly, Leader of Opposition and former chief minister Akram Khan Durrani said it was a poor document, which could not meet the expectations of the people. He said the government had made a nominal increase in the annual development programme.

Mr Durrani said when his government came into power in 2002 the ADP was of Rs8,000 million, but they shot it up to Rs14,000 million. After that, he said, they had made an unprecedented increase in the ADP and in 2007-08 it reached to Rs39 billion. This year the government had made an increase of Rs2 billion, but the ratio did not match the prices of construction material, he added.

He said that according to his assessment it was not an increase in the allocations rather it was an over all decrease of 20 per cent. In education sector, he said, the present government had made an increase of Rs632 million only and announced that it would construct two universities and 20 colleges out of it. In the budget, he said, the coalition government had allocated Rs90 million for provision of furniture to schools in five central districts, but it had earmarked only Rs100 million for provision of furniture in 10 other districts. He hoped that the government would continue to provide health facilities to poor people which he had initiated during his government.

He also spoke about the meagre allocations for health, tourism, labour, irrigation, power departments and urban development. He also explained his government’s position on the net hydel profit. He made suggestions for ending wheat crisis in the province.

Minister for Population and Welfare Salim Khan complained that the government had not allocated any funds for his department. He, however, appreciated the efforts of his fellow minister for bringing a good document during a small period of time.

Saqibullah Chamkani stressed on public-private partnership for ending lethargy from the public sector departments. He asked the government to introduce progressive taxation system and broaden its own tax base. He said according to the AGN Kazi formula, which was abandoned by the previous government, the share of province must be Rs19 billion, but at present net hydel profit was capped at Rs6 billion. He also supported abolishment of concurrent list.

He said there was a great boom in real estate business, but it had not benefited the government. He said every kind of minerals was in abundance in the province, but the successive governments had failed to exploit them for the betterment of the people. He asked the government to go through the three years record of cement factories, which had made huge profits but evaded tax.

Dr Faiza Rasheed alleged that some influential people had sold their far flung lands for educational institutions only to rob the government. She said that such projects held no value which had been initiated on political considerations. She also demanded of the government to initiate an inquiry into the shifting of Haripur hospital.

Shamsher Ali Khan from Swat said Taliban and army had destroyed the educational institution in the valley. He proposed to the government to make new recruitment into the police from Swat. Mohammad Ali Mohmand from Shabqadar said that backwardness and poverty had turned the disputed villages of Mohmand Agency into a sanctuary of all kinds of criminals.