QUETTA: The Balochistan government has stopped work on 15 unapproved housing schemes in the industrial towns of Hub and Winder with immediate effect and decided to link issuance of no-objection certificate for the schemes to strict implementation of laws.

Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan disclosed this while speaking at a gathering of tribal and political elders and government officers in Hub on Saturday. Former provincial minister Prince Ahmed Ali Ahmedzai was also present on the occasion.

Mr Kamal said that work had been under way on 15 unauthorised housing schemes, including eight in Winder and seven in Hub. “Work has been stopped on all unauthorised housing schemes,” he said, adding that no unauthorised housing scheme would be allowed in Lasbela and other districts of Balochistan in future. “Illegal housing schemes would be banned in Hub and other areas,” he announced.

While referring to development schemes, he said that the Balochistan High Court had cut off 1,600 unapproved development schemes of the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

“These schemes were not approved by the provincial government and the departments concerned,” the chief minister informed the gathering. He said that in the past there was discrimination in allocation of funds for the development schemes, as for some projects Rs5 billion was released while for others Rs200 million was allocated. “This disparity affected development of the province and funds were just spent on individual nature schemes,” Mr Kamal said.

He said that such policies would not continue in the province anymore and the government would give all attention to implementing merit and making the institutions stronger. “There will be no political interference in the development projects in future and all development work would be done on merit,” he said, adding that in the past funds were wasted, causing financial crisis in the province. The chief minister said that in the future, development work would be visible on ground and the government would monitor the quality of work.

He added that the government would control unemployment through providing jobs to educated youths on merit. He said that 28,000 vacancies were laying vacant in the province and more vacancies were being created in the education department.

He said that Quetta, Gwadar and other parts of the province were facing water crisis. He added that the government was making all-out efforts to resolve this issue. The chief minister said that the former government approved a water supply project worth of Rs40bn to bring water from pat feeder canal for Quetta but no feasibility report was prepared in this regard.

Referring to a crackdown against fake medicine business in Balochistan, Mr Kamal said that the government had decided to take action against fake doctors and medical stores selling counterfeit medicines and the crackdown would begin from Hub.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2018