KHYBER: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Haji Ghulam Ali said on Monday that special development funds would be allocated for the newly-merged districts in the next provincial budget to address issues pertaining to health, education and communication in those regions.

Addressing a gathering in Bara during his daylong visit, he pledged to end the decades-long deprivation of tribal districts and bring them at par with other parts of the province.

He said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Caretaker Chief Minister Azam Khan were also giving special attention to restoration of damaged infrastructure and speedy rehabilitation and development of the militancy-affected tribal districts.

The governor advised tribal elders and representatives of youth to shoulder the responsibility of monitoring development schemes and ensuring transparency in utilisation of the allocated uplift funds.

Ghulam Ali urges elders to monitor development schemes

He said that no laxity would be tolerated in the execution of development schemes. He said that public money would not be allowed to go to waste. “It is the established desire of the incumbent provincial government to resolve the longstanding issues of the tribal people in the shortest possible time,” he said.

He said that law and order was the biggest issue of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) while residents of the region had to bear with the tough and unbearable times of curfew. “Addressing a large gathering here in Bara is testimony to the establishment of lasting peace in the region that has been achieved with the efforts and sacrifices rendered by the security forces,” he added.

The governor told the gathering that 25 out of the proposed 50 fully damaged government schools in Bara were reconstructed while reconstruction of the rest would also be completed soon.

Accompanied by provincial caretaker ministers Manzoor Afridi, Dr Riaz Anwar, Pir Haroon Shah, Haji Lali, Hamid Shah, Taj Mohammad and Peshawar Mayor Zubair Ali, the governor inaugurated construction of seven-kilometre road from Bara to Peshtakhara in Peshawar.

He also gifted an ambulance to the Hasankhel area and promised to build a park if the required land was provided by local tribesmen.

The governor and the provincial ministers also participated in an awareness walk against narcotics in which schoolchildren also participated. Some schoolchildren fainted due to hot and suffocating weather prior to the start of the walk as they were made to wait for a long time in scorching heat.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2023