CM says efforts on to steer KP out of financial crunch

CHARSADDA: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Caretaker Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan on Friday said his government was making efforts to steer the province out of the current financial crunch. He was talking to reporters in Charsadda where he inaugurated the newly established state of the art Oxygen Generation Plant at the Women and Children Hospital Rajjar.

The plant has the capacity to produce 500 litres of oxygen per minute. It was established at a cost of Rs105 million with the financial support of United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

Azam Khan added that billions of rupees of the province were due to the federal government on account of different federal transfers. He said that erstwhile Fata had been merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but the province had not received the share of newly merged districts in the National Finance Commission (NFC) award.

“In order to resolve the financial issues of the province, a number of letters have been sent to the Prime Minister of Pakistan and federal finance minister,” he said.

Responding to a question, the caretaker chief minister said that he had requested the political leaders in a joint session the other day for their cooperation to get the legitimate rights of the province. He recalled that he met the prime minister along with other political leaders during his recent visit to Peshawar and briefed him in detail about the financial constraints of the province.

Azam Khan added that Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and other relevant authorities of the federal government were also present at the meeting. He made it clear that it was the first priority of the caretaker provincial government to steer the province out of current financial issues, adding that all possible efforts would be made for this purpose.

To another question, Azam Khan said if there had been financial irregularities in the past, it was the responsibility of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and other relevant bodies to investigate them.

Earlier, addressing the inaugural ceremony of the oxygen plant, the chief minister said the establishment of Oxygen Generation Plant was a great achievement and this would ensure uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen to Women and Children Hospital Rajjar besides meeting the requirement of oxygen at other hospitals in Charsadda and adjacent districts.

He said the plant can become an important source of revenue generation for Women and Children Hospital Rajar by providing additional oxygen to the private sector hospitals. The chief minister added that thousands of children died due to unavailability of oxygen and establishing this state-of-the-art oxygen generation plant was truly a blessing for the children suffering from pneumonia, corona and other such diseases.

He maintained that establishment of such a plant was the need of the hour after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, adding that the plant would play an important role to save thousands of precious human lives by ensuring uninterrupted supply of oxygen to the

hospitals. Azam Khan thanked UNICEF for extending its assistance in establishing the oxygen generation plant, and termed this a great initiative on part of UNICEF for the people of KhyberPakhtunkhwa.

He said UNICEF was working to set up another plant in Abbottabad as well. He requested UNICEF to extend its cooperation in establishing an oxygen generation plant in the southern region of the province.

Later, the chief minister also visited various sections of Women and Children Hospital Rajar and directed the quarters concerned to ensure provision of all the required facilities to the patients in the hospital.