KOHAT: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Sunday announced a Rs3 billion project for putting 800 tubewells in the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on solar system.

He was speaking during a ceremony held to inaugurate work on the Shakardarra water supply scheme worth Rs1.54 billion. He also approved sub-tehsil status for Shakardarra town and Rs1 billion for water supply scheme in Lachi area of PK-39.

He sanctioned upgradation of Sheki high school to higher secondary, Shakardarra Rehmanabad basic health centre to rural health facility, gas supply to remaining villages of Shakardarra, Shakardarra-Karappa road and Rs50 million for Shahpur road.

Addressing a public meeting in Shakardarra, the chief minister said that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had won the elections on the slogan of bringing real change by eliminating bribery, injustice and thana culture, and improving dilapidated schools, roads and hospitals which they had inherited from politicians with vested interest.

Says 800 tubewells in southern districts will be put on solar power

He said that his predecessors got vote in the name of Islam, Pathan, ‘roti, kapra aur makan’, etc but served against their manifestos by befooling the innocent people.

Mr Khattak said that his government’s first priority was education and they invested Rs40 billion in primary schools only. He said that to provide quality education in government schools they had inducted 37,000 teachers and there was still a demand for 8,000 more.

“I also banned transfers and postings on the intervention of officials and politicians,” he said and added that most of the schools had furniture, boundary walls, latrines, water and grounds besides complete staff who attended the classes regularly.

The chief minister said that same was the case with the health department and the people demanded new hospitals which were there but had no staff and machinery. Now the same doctors who did not want to serve in far-flung areas were there whose salaries had been raised from Rs28,000 to Rs200,000, he said.

“I have issued strict instructions that every health facility should have male and female doctors and technicians, and that all tests like X-rays should be done at the hospital and no patient should be referred outside to private laboratories,” he said.

The chief minister said that the police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were now working without any political influence as a true force.

He said that in past the CM House used to be a bargain centre where the staff would indulge in granting undue promotions, transfers and postings, but now only honest people had been appointed there.

RAILCAR SERVICE: The inauguration of the resumption of railcar service between Kohat and Rawalpindi would be held on January 17.

This was decided in a meeting when divisional engineer of Pakistan Railways, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Asad Rasheed called on PML-N’s former senator Abbas Khan Afridi at his residence here the other day.

The railcar service was suspended in May 2013. Karwane Amal had been staging a silent protest at the railway station on every Friday for the last one year demanding resumption of the service.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2017