QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said on Thursday that reforms are underway in health and education sectors as despite spending billions of rupees, the condition of these sectors was not satisfactory.

Talking to journalists outside the Balochistan Assembly, the chief minister said the provincial government has allocated Rs80 billion for the healthcare sector.

Despite the huge allocation, the health department’s condition remained unsatisfactory, and because of this, the government initiated several reforms in the province’s hospitals following Sindh’s model.

He hoped that these steps would improve the situation in Baloc­histan hospitals.

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He said under the reforms, the Fauji Foundation would run three hospitals in the province under a contract.

CM Bugti also referred to the education sector and said that billions of rupees are also being spent on this sector in the province. Yet, the situation “doesn’t seem to be improving”.

A comprehensive assessment of the provincial Public Sector Development Programme will be conducted, and a reform committee will be formed to present its report within 60 days, the CM added.

He said the committee’s recommendations would be presented before the provincial cabinet to initiate development projects.

The chief minister said he had tasked the Quetta commissioner with removing over a hundred thousand tonnes of garbage from Quetta City and streamlining the traffic on Sariab Road within two months.

Referring to Senate polls, Mr Bugti said elections were held in the province without controversies after a long time.

He stressed that Senate elections in Balochistan were transparent and that political harmony should be promoted in the province.

The chief minister said that 13 candidates had submitted their nomination papers for the Senate elections.

After consultations, he said the PPP, PML-N, and JUI-F leadership reached an understanding, and because of this, one candidate from each party emerged victorious in the Senate polls.

Talking about the cabinet formation, he said the delay was also due to the presidential and Senate elections.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2024