From Our Correspondent

PESHAWAR

Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan has revealed that Prime Minster Imran Khan would soon give a good news to the public regarding relief in the current inflation adding that axcept the current wave of inflation there is no competitor of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, and the incumbent government under the leadership of Prime minister Imran Khan is taking result oriented steps to minimize the negative impacts of inflation on the common man. Bashing the opposing parties for their incompetency and ill planning in the past, Mahmood Khan has said that those who ruled the country for more than 70 years did nothing to improve the economy of the country but to plunder the public exchequers for their personal gains.

He was addressing as chief guest the oath taking ceremony of newly elected cabinet of Peshawar Press Club here on Monday. He said that when the incumbent government came into power the economy of the country was at the verge of collapse but the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan through tireless efforts put the country’s economy on right track adding that now the economy of the country is improving and all the indicators are in the positive directions. He remarked that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf will contest the second phase of local bodies election with full preparations and achieve brilliant success. Touching upon the overall performance of his government, Mahmood Khan stated that his government was fulfilling all the promises made to the public one by one adding that for the first time in the history of the province the incumbent provincial government presented a historic budget of more than one trillion rupees and released cent percent development fund in the very beginning of the financial budget as promised. “Successful merger of Ex-FATA, Regularization of Ex-FATA employees, Merger of 28 thousand Levies forces of Ex-Fata in Regular policies, Completion of BRT Projects, Swat Motorway Phase-I, Rashakai Economic Zone and Extension of Sehat Card Schemes to 100 percent population of the province are some of the big achievements of the incumbent provincial government”, Mahmood Khan enumerated and said that the present provincial government has introduced rudimentary reforms in taxes and has given relief to the tax payers by doing away with duplication in taxes and by giving waver in provincial taxes. Mahmood Khan said that the provincial government, during the Dubai Expo 2020 held last month has signed 44 different MoUs worth eight billion dollars with foreign companies which is another big achievement of the provincial government adding that his government was committed to implement at least 50 percent of those MoUs during the tenure of the incumbent government. The chief minister maintained that his government was focusing special attention on Energy, Tourism, Agriculture and Mineral Sectors the province has got huge potential in these sectors and continued that besides extending other facilitations to private sector investors the provincial government was providing electricity to the local industries comparatively on cheaper rates through wheeling system so as to boost industrial activities and generate employment opportunities for the local people whereas work is in progress on mega hydel power stations in the province. Similarly, schools, hospital and mosques are being solarized under the clean and green energy initiatives of the province. He said that the provincial government has become the first province of the country to have its food security policy under which a number of initiatives have been proposed to increase the food basket of the province and added that there has been a good deal of the progress on Chashma Right Bank Canal Project to bring thousands acres of barren land of southern districts under cultivations with the aim to make the province self-sufficient in agriculture products. He terms Sehat Card Plus Scheme as a flagship project of his government and said that under the schemes hundred percent population of the province is getting free treatment facilities adding that free Kidney and Liver Transplant have also been covered under the scheme. 

Mahmood Khan said that the provincial government believed in equal welfare of all sections of society and concrete steps were being taken in this regard. He added that the government had initiated various initiatives under Ehsas Program for the uplift of vulnerable segments of the society. The Chief Minister while terming the development of livestock sector as an integral part of his government’s priorities, said that the provincial government was launching a separate project worth Rs 68 billion for the development of livestock sector. Moreover, he stated that rescue stations had been expanded to the tehsil level. Patwar reforms were being carried out and for the first time in the history of the province, female patwaris were being recruited; he remarked. Mahmood Khan said that the projects completed by the incumbent provincial government were also highly appreciated at the international forums among which the Billion Tree and BRT projects are noteworthy. Touching upon the initiatives taken by his government for the welfare of journalists, the Chief Minister said that the provincial government had approved Rs 100 million during current financial year for the construction and rehabilitation of press clubs at divisional level. Similarly, Rs 120 million were sanctioned for construction and rehabilitation of press clubs in the newly merged districts. Moreover, Rs 50 million were given to different press clubs on the account of grant in aid in the year 2021. On this occasion, the chief minister announced to increase the seed money of Journalists Welfare Endowment Fund from Rs. 120 million to Rs. 200 million and to provide onetime special grant of Rs. 30 million to Peshawar Press Club. The Chief Minister also announced to provide scholarships in the name of late journalists Hafiz Sana Ullah and Rahim Ullah Yousafzai in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Peshawar to working journalists of Peshawar. Mahmood Khan said that a project for the solarization of Peshawar Press Club would be included in upcoming Annual Development Program. Provincial cabinet members Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Anwar Zeb, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Secretary Information Arshad Khan, Director General Information Imdad Ullah and a large number of journalists attended the oath taking ceremony. Earlier, the Chief Minister administered oath of office to the newly elected President of Peshawar Press Club M. Riaz and his cabinet and gave provisional allotment letters of plots to journalists in the proposed Media Enclave in New Peshawar City.