PDM bunch of corrupt elements: CM

KHAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan inaugurated 132 KV grid station and performed the groundbreaking of a sub-jail in Bajaur tribal district on Friday.

He also addressed a gathering of tribal elders at Khar, district headquarters of Bajaur, during his one day visit to the district. The chief minister made it clear that the KP government was aware of the problems of the tribal areas and taking pragmatic steps to resolve their problems. He said the matter of exemption from tax for an additional five years to tribal districts had been taken up with Prime Minister Imran Khan and efforts were underway for establishing the border markets in tribal areas.

Mahmood Khan said the legislation had been done to protect the rights of the tribal people over their mineral resources. He said the educational institutions of the tribal districts were being upgraded whereas a second shift in the schools would be started on the need basis and contract employees of tribal districts would be regularized. Talking about the important initiatives in the higher education sector, he said a scheme had been included in the developmental programme for the establishment of 15 degree colleges in the tribal districts.

Referring to the other developmental projects in Bajaur, the chief minister said work on the feasibility study of Barang tunnel was in progress to provide the people easy access to Swat Motorway whereas the notification on up-gradation of Bajaur District Headquarters Hospital to Category-A hospital would be issued soon. He asked the Board of Revenue to submit proposals for the establishment of another sub-division in Bajaur. Flaying the alliance of the opposition parties, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for a protest movement against the government, the chief minister accused its leaders of having plundered the country. He believed the PDM leaders had come together to defend their corrupt practices after the prime minister refused to give them any concession. Mahmood Khan said that the government would carry out ruthless accountability to recover the plundered money. He said that corrupt political elements were doing politics in the name of Islam and Pakhtuns, adding they had ruled in KP but did nothing except plundering the exchequer.

The chief minister said that during the last government all the parties had made a commitment to allocate three per cent of the National Finance Commission for merged areas but unfortunately none fulfilled its commitment except the incumbent federal and KP governments. Provincial Minister Anwar Zeb, Members National Assembly Engr. Ajmal Khan, Gul Dad Khan and Senator Hidayatullah also addressed the Jirga.