QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani has said that the coalition government has undertaken development projects for the industrial town of Hub and other areas without considering whether people of these area would “vote for us or not”.

Speaking at a public meeting after reaching his native town Bela, Mr Alyani said that all districts of the province would be developed as much as his own district Lasbela. Earlier, a large number of people, including tribal elders, notables and leaders and workers of the ruling Balochistan Awami Party, welcomed him on his arrival at Bela and took him to the venue of the rally in a motorcade.

Mr Alyani said that Balochistan’s main issue was its backwardness as the previous governments ignored development of the province, which intensified the sense of deprivation among the people with the passage of time. However, he said that the present coalition government had evolved a comprehensive strategy for rapid development and prosperity of the province.

The CM said that his government was striving for the welfare of the people of the entire province and paying attention to providing best health facilities to the people. Soon health cards would be issued to 1.82 million families of the province through which they would be able to get free medical treatment costing up to Rs500,000 to Rs1 million in any government or private hospital.

Says health cards to be issued to 1.82m families soon

“Our government is spending Rs70 billion to Rs75bn annually on development projects,” the chief minister said, adding that in the past the provincial capital Quetta also rem­ai­ned neglected but the present government had launched many big development projects for the uplift of Quetta.

He said that construction of dams and infrastructure in the province was underway that would end shortage of water and connect all districts of the province with each other.

Mr Alyani rejected the opposition’s negative propaganda that the government was neglecting their constituencies, and said that massive development work was underway in Sariab which the opposition considered an area dominated by it. “I believe in equitable development of all districts of the province without any discrimination,” he said.

He said that the previous government had more development funds but these funds were not properly spent on the uplift of Balochistan. “They did nothing to resolve the issues being faced by Quetta, which increased the difficulties of the people.”

Mr Alyani said soon cancer treatment facilities would be available in Quetta as a cancer hospital was being constructed there. He claimed that the previous government from 2008 to 2013 had stopped work on development schemes of his constituency, Lasbela district.

Mr Alyani also visited Surab the other day and held a meeting with tribal elders and other people in which he said the biggest problem of the province remained lack of planning and his government was paying attention to proper planning based on the needs of the areas.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2021