PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Friday directed the finance department to immediately release Rs500 million for the provision of loans to 1,715 families of merged tribal districts selected for the Insaf Rozagar Scheme.

Chairing a meeting about IRS and Sehat Insaf Card in merged districts at the Chief Minister’s House, Mr Mahmood ordered the completion of the loan distribution under the scheme by the end of March.

The officials informed him that 2,775 people had been provided with Rs622.228 million loans, while the distribution of loans had gained momentum during the last three months due to the resolution of bottlenecks.

They said Rs600 million loans had been given away in the last three months compared to Rs22.228 million in the initial three months of the IRS launch.

The officials said most loans were provided to retailers followed by the people associated with embroidery sector, medical stores, private transporters, livestock and others.

Says Insaf card counters should be set up at region’s DHQ hospitals

They said a realistic quota was reserved for every district to eliminate discrepancies.

Regarding the status of the Sehat Insaf Card in the merged districts, the meeting was informed that 50 per cent of the cards had been distributed, while the people in the region could avail themselves of the facilities through own computerised national identity cards.

The chief minister ordered the establishment of facilitation counters at entry points in all districts headquarters hospitals of merged districts on a priority basis to educate and create awareness of the Sehat Insaf Cards.

He said a large-scale awareness campaign should be launched along with the empanelment of major hospitals throughout the country to enable people to avail themselves of health services in line with their needs.

The meetings were also attended by finance minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra, health minister Shahram Khan Tarakai, livestock minister Muhibullah Khan, adviser to the chief minister on merged districts Ajmal Wazir, administrative secretaries of the departments concerned, managing director of the Bank of Khyber, CEO of the Sehat Insaaf Programme for merged areas, representatives of the State Life Insurance, and others.

Mr Mahmood said the provincial government was committed to developing the downtrodden segments of society in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2020