PESHAWAR, Sept 29: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has said the provincial government will build a road network and establish educational institutions and health care units in Hangu as part of its developmental strategy.

A uniform developmental strategy has already been evolved to protect interests of all districts.

The chief minister said: “Our government considers efficient services in social sectors as the basic right of the people that will be provided to them without hindrance.”

Mr Durrani was addressing a 300-member delegation of newly-elected local representatives of Hangu district at the Frontier House here on Thursday.

The chief minister said the MMA government ensured the use of power and authority for the provision of justice and basic rights to the people so that their sense of deprivation was removed. “All areas got equal chances of moving forward in all fields,” he added.

He said that district Hangu was one of the most backward districts of the province and the government would provide funds to the district for improved services in the educational, health and water sectors.

He said that the provincial government had made up its mind to provide free textbooks to students up to Matric from next year.

“Presently, it has been providing free books to boys up to the primary level and girls up to matric,” he said, adding that education was the beacon of light and one of the basic rights of the people that the government, he added, was bound to provide.

He said that despite the lack of educational facilities in the southern belt of the province, certain individuals through sheer hard work got prominent positions presently contributing to the national cause at national and international levels.

He said that the government had already sanctioned the extension of gas to six southern districts and praised former prime minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, for initially sanctioning it.

He said that the president or the prime minister would soon inaugurate the extension of gas to the entire southern belt. “The provincial and federal governments have each allocated Rs360million and the gas department will spend Rs2 billion to complete the extension of gas project to the entire belt,” he maintained. Mr Durrani conceded the extension of gas to Hangu district will also boost investment in the area.

He said that maintenance of peace would automatically compel the investors to invest and therefore the elders should continue to contribute for a peaceful environment in their districts.

The chief minister said that the provincial government had started constructing A-Grade Hospitals in all districts that would ensure the availability of health care facilities to the people at the grassroots level.