Peshawar: The 27th meeting of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Cabinet was held here with Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur in the chair and was attended by Cabinet members, Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary, Senior Member Board of Revenue, Administrative Secretaries, and Advocate General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Immediately after recitation from the holly Quran, the Chief Minister in his opening remarks appreciated the performance of the cabinet colleagues and the supporting bureaucracy for such an outstanding performance during the last one year of his government.
He said that while taking over the reign of government one year ago, the province hardly had 15 days salaries for the employees but now they have a historic Rs.150 billion surplus. Without imposing any tax, the income of the Province has been increased 50 per cent while on the other hand not only cent per cent releases have been made to the ADP schemes but the frozen ones too retaken up.
He pointed out that the Health Card scheme was stopped but they have not only retaken it up but widened its coverage too. Due to good governance, as many as Rs.900 million a month is saved just in the Health Card scheme despite the widening of services. This has been highly appreciated by the poor people of the province, he said. He further pointed out that liabilities worth Rs.87 billion have also been cleared and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa became the first Province to have established a debt retirement Fund and reserving Rs.30 billion for it. As far as new schemes, the first ever Provincial Transmission Line has been taken up at a cost of Rs.18 billion to provide cheap electricity to the industrial units. The posting transfers of public servants were was made purely on merit basis and no political pressure would be accepted in this regard, he remarked.
Taking important decisions on agenda items, the cabinet approved a draft bill for establishing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Officers Welfare Fund. The fund upon creation is aimed at supporting the Judicial Officers in situations such as health emergencies, accidents, natural disasters and post-retirement needs. It also approved a special grant of Rs. 667.500 Million as payment for 150 Kanal land to Peshawar Development Authority for construction of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy at Regi Model Town, Peshawar.
The Cabinet approved Rs. 9934000/- as additional grant for Peshawar High Court to purchase vehicle for the official use of the judges while relaxing the ban on purchase of vehicles. Relaxing the ban for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights Department, the Cabinet also approved the creation of posts of various cadres in the Ombudsman Secretariat. The Chief Minister on this occasion directed to accelerate work on the establishment of car park near the buildings of the Peshawar High Court and the District Courts. The Cabinet approved the draft amendment in Section-2 and 3 (sub-sections 1 to 4) of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Appointment, Deputation, Posting/Transfer of Teachers, Instructors and Doctors) Regulatory Act, 2011.
The amendment substitutes the words/term 'union council' by 'Educational Cluster' wherever appearing in the said Act. The Cabinet also approved the draft notification for establishment of Water and Sanitation Services Company, Haripur. It further approved the posting/appointment of Muhammad Rahman Afridi as Chief Executive Officer (BPS-20) for Faculty of Paramedics and Allied Health Sciences, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Cabinet approved a non-ADP Scheme of Rs. 310.696 million for construction of auditorium in Abbottabad Public School, Abbottabad. The Cabinet approved allocation and release of Rs. 3.3 million to Institute of Management Sciences.
This fund has been provided as financial assistance to four students of IMSciences whose startup 'Eagle Tasker', was the only startup from Pakistan, was chosen for the global finale for Hult Prize competition held in USA. The Cabinet approved unfreezing of the ADP scheme titled "Establishment of Boys Campus of Model Institute Zamungkor in Peshawar". This scheme is aimed at extension of the institute with a cost of Rs. 492.755 million. In line with the Child Protection and Welfare Act 2010, ZamungKor was established at Peshawar in 2016 to cater to the needs of vulnerable and destitute children.
The Cabinet approved provision of annual sustenance fund of Rs. 10 million for Umeed Special Education School for FY 2024-25. Currently, 150 students across five categories of disabilities are enrolled in the Umeed Special Education School. It also approved Rs.3.1 million for such an education institution of Aisha Foundation. The Cabinet approved provision of funds to the tune of Rs. 68.51 million to enable the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sports Contingent for participation in the 35th National Games to be held in Karachi. The Cabinet accorded ex-post facto sanction for the selection of a cellular company as centralized bank services provider for disbursement of Ramzan Package to each of the 1,016,394 individuals across the Province.