Daily Times

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday passed a resolution unanimously to shift Pakistan Tobacco Board to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The resolution was presented by member Provincial Assembly Jahandad Khan saying that Tobacco crop is a rich crop of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but because of the Tobacco Board Pakistan which is lying with federal government most of the farmers were not getting their proper cash payment of their crop.

He requested that the board should be handed over to the provincial government; the resolution was unanimously adopted by the house with majority votes.

MPA Nighat Orkzai on a call attention notice said that in most of the teaching hospitals of Peshawar including Khyber Teaching Hospital, Hayatbad Medical Complex and Lady Reading Hospital has no pediatric ventilator in nursery unit.

She further said that one ventilator price is just one lack and twenty rupees (Rs 120,000) and it should be provided to the hospitals on emergency basis. Due to lack of this facility private hospitals charge Rs10, 000 per patients from the poor people. On the occasion Law Minister Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi responded saying that the government will provide the facility in a week on emergency basis.

Amna Sardar on a call attention notice raised the question the last so many months Workers Welfare Board, FATA Ad-hoc lecturer and teaching assistant were not regularized and not paid their wages by the government.

Minster Shah Farrman said that Worker Welfare Board is a federal government institution and it will deal by the federal government. The speaker took personal interest in the matter and said that the issue has come to the house many times and issued ruling directing authorities to present their reports in the house.

Lawmaker Qurban Khan told the speaker that Ziaullah Afridi, former minister for mineral development who is currently in jail, is not a criminal, he is accused. He requested to be produced in the house in this session but he wasn’t.

Quraban said that Ziaullah represent 200,000 people in his constituency and they have issues but since their elected representative has not been produced in the house.

Ziaullah Afridi was produced in the house last year in September and was allowed to speak but leveled allegations on the chief minister Pervez Khattak following which he has not been produced in the house.

The speaker told him that he will look into the matter. The opposition members walked out of the house when lawmaker Munawar Khan complained regarding the Chief Minister Pervez Khattak’s false promise which he had made to them on the floor of the house.

“The chief minister had promised that he will discuss with all the developmental schemes in the budget and the developmental funds set-aside for the projects and he had given us August 12, the date for discussing it but he didn’t show-up so we would boycott the session over this behavior of the chief minister,” he said and walked out of the house with other opposition members.

The walk out caused the quorum incomplete and the speaker had to prorogue the session for indefinite period leaving the agenda for the day incomplete.