Daily Times

PESHAWAR: More than 318 Water Supply Schemes (WSS) were non-functional in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa because which contaminated water diseases like Hepatitis C and others were increasing day by day in the province.

Around 13 WSS schemes were non-functional in Peshawar while 13 were non-functional in the home area of KP Chief Minister at Nowshera.

Similarly in Charsadda district around 22 WSS Schemes were non-functional, Mardan 15, Karak 43, Mansehra 20, DI Khan 10, Lakki-Marwat 32, Swat 25, Dir-Upper 19, Dir Lower 19 and Malakand were recorded. 15 WSS schemes were non-functional and common people were facing problems.

It was in the manifesto of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf that pure water and health facilities would be provided to the people of KP but still people were facing problems as a majority of WSS schemes were non-functional.

Doctors and health experts said that more than 70 per cent of diseases emerged because of the use of contaminated water, adding that around 50,000 patients of Hepatitis were in KP while the ratio is increasing day by day in the province.

This was raised in a question by the MPA of Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI-F) Mufti Janan at the session of the provincial assembly on Friday.

Adviser to the Chief Minister on Information and Higher Education, Mushtaq Ghani, said that the provincial government’s first priority is to provide health and education to the people of the province.

He further said that the government had invested billions of rupees in the developmental sector, adding that developmental work was in progress and soon all the WSS schemes would be completed.

In the session a bill was also passed last Tuesday in which the salary of the Speaker KP Assembly was raised from Rs80, 000 to Rs150, 000, salary of the Deputy Speaker 54,000 to Rs145, 000 and salary of the KP CM from Rs40, 000 to Rs200, 000.

The salaries of ministers have been increased from Rs35, 000 to Rs180, 000 and MPAs from Rs18, 000 to Rs80, 000. The bills further stated that this raise would be effective from July 1, 2016.

This scribe raised the issue of irregularities in the Health Care Commission some three months before where there wasmega corruption and irregularities were reported and some staff was hired with references by the government.

JUI-F MPA,UzmaKhan, raised the issue on the floor of the assembly but the speakers of the assembly were not providing him a chance to talk on the issue as he boycotted the session and later joined.

Opposition leader of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Sardar Aurangzeb Nalota, raised the issue of non-equal distribution of funds among the opposition members of the assembly.

He added that the PTI government and Chief Minister Perveez Khattak were just using all the developmental funds in four districts like inNowshera the home area of the CM where the government distributed all the funds.

He informed that the PTI’s own members including women MPAs raised their voice against their own government , adding that there was no change occurring in the province and poor people of the province were still facing difficulties like they faced during the previous government.