PESHAWAR: For the first time in the province’s history, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has taken over the Rs6 billion assets of the provincial textbook board threatening the imminent distribution of textbooks to the public sector schools across the province on time.

It has however left Rs500 million in the autonomous body’s bank accounts for its necessary administrative affairs.

Sources told Dawn that the creation of those assets dated back to the dissolution of the One Unit in 1970, which led to the foundation of the erstwhile NWFP Text Book Board, which initially got Rs1.7 million, which went up to Rs6.5 billion in the next around 50 years.

They said the government’s move would deprive the board responsible for printing free textbooks for schoolchildren of its main source of funds.

There are fears unprecedented move can delay distribution of books to schools

The sources said the interest generated by the seized funds amounted to Rs400-Rs500 million per annum and that amount helped the organisation manage day-to-day affairs. The entity’s administrative and development spending alone cost close to Rs. 200 million per annum, which also met from accrued interest.

The sources said the board had planned to acquire six vehicles for own use and put up a residential colony for employees and a huge godown for storing textbooks but the plans were unlikely to be executed after the funds seizure by the government.

They said the board would struggle to meet operational and administrative expenditure after being deprived of assets by the government.

The sources said the move could also delay the distribution of textbook to schools on time as the board often released money to printers from own bank accounts. They added that the board got back that money from the government afterwards.

The sources said the delayed delivery of free textbooks could waste the time of students. They said the board printed over 62 million books every academic year from nursery to intermediate levels but under the current circumstances, the printers would lose interest in the job over fears of delay in payments.

The sources said many believed that the amount taken away from the board would be spent on the construction of the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit.

Finance minister Muzaffar Said was not available for comments.

However, a senior official of the finance department insisted that Rs6.5 billion lied in the designated bank account of the board after accumulation over the years.

“The textbook board doesn’t have the expertise to invest money in banks,” he said, adding that the finance department would do the job in a proper manner.

Asked how the board will meet its expenses after losing the main sources of revenue, Textbook Board Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chairman Masood Ahmed insisted that the board was a government organisation and therefore, the government could give financial grant to it whenever it needed.

He said the board would continue to be financially stable.

Asked if the government is allowed by the law to control the board’s assets, the chairman said the government could do so by amending the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textbook Board Ordinance, 1971.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2018