PESHAWAR, June 11: The leader of opposition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Akram Khan Durrani, asked the provincial government here on Monday to seek details from the centre regarding financial assistance received in lieu of Coalition Support Fund (CSF).
“Federal government has released negligible amount to the province during the past four years to mitigate sufferings of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa inflicted on them owing to war against terrorism,” he said while starting discussion on budget for the year 2012-13 in the assembly.
People of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had suffered physically, socially and economically since the province became frontline state in the war against terrorism but Islamabad was ignoring their sacrifices, said Mr Durrani. “Islamabad has already sucked our blood and we should not provide it more opportunities,” he added.
He urged the provincial government to seek details from federal government that how much economic assistance had been received under CSF and how much had been transferred to the province. He claimed that the province had received Rs22 billion during the past four years for its role in the war against terrorism.
Keeping his tradition alive, Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti as usual was not present in the house during opposition leader’s speech. Attendance in the house was also thin that showcased interest of the lawmakers in the budget session. After prayer break attendance of the lawmakers further dropped.
Durrani himself was not well prepared for the budget speech and avoid criticising government policies. Astonishingly, he started his speech from changing name of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Hazara Pakhtunkhwa.
“Instead of making the word Khyber part of the province it will be better to add Hazara to Pakhtunkhwa that will promote harmony among the people,” he proposed. He also said that provincial government should not surrender its right of issuing arm licences to the centre.
He suggested that provincial government should make investment in oil, gas, coal and hydel resources. He said that budget documents showed that the province had received Rs22 billion from the centre on account of oil and gas royalty, adding that the amount could go up to Rs60 billion annually.
He said that Karak, Kohat, Hangu, Lakki Marwat and its adjacent tribal areas had vast deposits of oil and gas and only four wells were functioning. He said that provincial government failed to bring oil and gas exploration companies from abroad to start rigging of wells.
In hydel sector, he said, provincial government performance was not impressive as it executed work on only one project in Malakand during the last four years.
Durrani said that government had claimed that the province would receive Rs25 billion on the account of net hydel profit, but it did not provide details that how much amount had been received so far. He said that government failed to increase the province’s share from Rs6 billion in the head of net hydel profit.
The opposition leader said that agriculture and irrigation had been ignored in the budget. He said that Rs1.86 billion had been allocated for agriculture sector that was not sufficient. He said that farming and livestock were main sectors, which created employment opportunities.
He urged the government to start construction of Chshma Right Bank Canal (gravity-cum-lift-1). He said that the proposed project could make Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts “food baskets” of the province. He said that federal government was not interested in the construction of CRBC therefore the provincial government should generate funds for this vital project from its own resources.
PML-Q parliamentary leader Qalandar Khan Lodhi said that nominal amount had been allocated for roads and highways in the Annual Development Programme. He said that road network was vital for economic growth and proposed that government should allocate more resources to this sector.
He complained that National Highway Authority had again suspended work on Hazara Expressway, which would link Hassanabdal with Mansehra. He also said that government did not launch mega project in Hazara division in the past four years that resulted in promoting sense of deprivation among people of the region.