PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party (ANP) has said that presenting the budget of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before the federal budget shows the non-seriousness of the provincial government.

Addressing a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, ANP provincial spokesperson Arsalan Khan Nazim termed the provincial government’s allocation for the education sector a joke. He said that developed countries allocated at least four per cent of the total budget for the education sector.

Flanked by ANP provincial secretaries for youth affairs advocates Tariq Afghan and Sana Gulzar, he said that most of the universities in the province were without vice-chancellors and that examinations were underway while the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Kohat was without a chairman.

Nazim said that 18th Amendment was a gift of his party but the government was not following it. He alleged that inhuman incidents were taking place in hospitals. He demanded an inquiry into the death of Musa Khan, a student of Malakand University.

Party’s provincial spokesperson alleges irregularities in wheat procurement

Nazim termed the Billion Tree Tsunami project a fraud and questioned its impact on the environment. He alleged that the trees planted under the project were banned across the world since they dropped the water table.

The spokesperson further said that the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) facilitated people, but it was a failed long-term project. He said that the project, which started with Rs27 billion, reached a cost of Rs100 billion. He demanded a probe into the project to ascertain why the project could not be completed.

ANP leaders also alleged irregularities in wheat procurement, saying the provincial government purchased wheat from the federal government at a lower rate, but sold it at a higher price.

They added that the party had been expressing concerns about the law and order situation but the government was not serious. They said that police were bravely fighting against militants.

They said that the province generated more electricity than its total consumption but not enough power was being supplied. There would be no industry in the province without a power supply, they warned.

The ANP leaders said that the merged districts were completely ignored in the budget for the fiscal year 2024-25 and questioned the provincial government about how much money was allocated for merged districts when the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf was running the government in the centre.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2024