Shaukat says BRT to be complete by year’s end

PESHAWAR: Information Minister Shaukat Ali Yousafzai hoped on Tuesday the multi-billion Peshawar’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project would be completed at the end of this year.

Talking to the media, he claimed the earlier deadline given by the government for the completion of the important project was misunderstood.

“It was, in fact, for the infrastructure. I am not giving a deadline but we hope the project will be completed by the end of the year,” he explained. Responding to a question about the reports of a likely reshuffle in the KP cabinet, Shaukat Yousafzai said changes could be made keeping in view the performance of the ministers. He believed his statement about the unemployed doctors and engineers was not correctly reported in a section of the media. Shaukat Yousafzai was reported criticising the doctors, who are boycotting duties at the public sector hospitals, and engineers.

He was quoted as saying the doctors and engineers used to be unemployed in the past would sell snacks in the Khyber Bazaar. “Yey doctors aur engineers Pikoray becha kartey thay [They used to sell snacks],” he was quoted as having said. The comment, which was reported by some TV channels and had gone viral on social media as well, invited criticism.

Meanwhile, Minister for Information Shaukat Yousafzai said on Tuesday that Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department had collected Rs3447 million during the financial year 2018-19. He was speaking at a press conference about one-year performance of Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department. The minister was flanked by Secretary Excise Syed Zafar Ali Shah and Director General Excise Syed Fayyaz Ali Shah. Shaukat Yousafzai added a staff of the department worked with utmost dedication to achieve the target. He said the department showed exceptional performance by meeting the revenue target with 103 percent recovery of taxes. The minister said that previously the highest achieved the target in terms of percentage was 92, adding that the 100 percent figure has been surpassed in the current financial year 2018-19. Shaukat Yousafzai said that the Excise and Taxation was the only revenue-generating department this year. He said after 18th amendment KP became the first province which passed its own anti-narcotics bill and the department was about to set up its own narcotics investigation cells.

Shaukat Yousafzai explained that memorandum of understanding has already been signed between Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department and INL-Pakistan for capacity building of the proposed Narcotics Control Wing of Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“In the initial phase, INL-Pakistan will assist Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department by providing vehicles, telecommunication and capacity building of the staff,” he maintained. Talking about narcotics seizure, the minister said the department made substantial progress during the financial year 2018-19 by seizing drugs worth about Rs1.8 billion in the international market. He added the department recently introduced one-day vehicle registration in which registration books are printed and delivered to the vehicle owner on the same day.