PESHAWAR - Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has strongly criticised the PML-N-led federal government for poor arrangements at the makeshift camps established for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of North Waziristan Agency.
“Owing to the inability of federal government, the dislocated tribal families of NWA are being confronted with numerous difficulties due to lack of basic facilities at makeshift camps,” said PTI Provincial Secretary Information MNA Ayesha Gulalai while speaking at a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Thursday. She also criticised the federal government for announcing a package of Rs7,000 per family. “A tribal family normally comprises 10 to 14 members and it will be difficult for them to meet basic needs in this meagre amount,” she added.
She said despite the limited resources, the provincial government was making all-out efforts to provide best possible facilities to the displaced tribesmen.
To a query about the decision of PTI core committee to launch movement against the PML-N government after Eid, she said that party was organising a protest rally in Bhawalpur, wherein PTI Chairman Imran Khan would announce future line of action in this connection.
Comparing the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government budget with the federal government budget for financial year 2014-15, Gulalai termed the KP budget a people-friendly, pro-poor, in which the provincial government tried to extend maximum relief to masses. She said that federal government increased levy of General Sale Tax from 16 to 17 per cent in the fiscal budget for 2014-15 while in the next financial year THE PTI-led provincial government slashed GST from 16 to 15 per cent.
Enumerating the salient features of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa budget, the MNA said the provincial government imposed agriculture tax, whereas a cash card scheme would be launched to extend subsidy to poor masses on flour and ghee.
Gulalai said that KP budget has maximum focused on sectoral reforms, particularly in education and health, as sufficient budgetary allocation has been made for provision of best education and health facilities in the province. For the next year, she said, huge funds have been allocated to reconstruct more than 760 damaged schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while a number of energy development projects would also be initiated next year.