PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet on Wednesday approved proposed legislation to give legal cover to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s flagship free healthcare initiative, Sehat Card programme.

According to spokesman for the government Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, the KP Universal Health Coverage Bill, 2022, will ensure the continuation of the Sehat Card programme on a permanent basis to provide free health services to the people of the province.

The cabinet met with Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in the chair. Ministers and administrative secretaries also attended the meeting.

Mr Saif told reporters afterwards that the cabinet also approved the establishment of the KP Environmental Protection Council under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Environmental Protection Act, 2014, to oversee the implementation of the environmental laws, approval of environment-related policies, and environmental standards.

The council will be headed by the chief minister or his nominee, while the environment minister will be the vice-chairperson with the chief secretary, additional chief secretary and the secretaries of environment, finance, law, irrigation, communication and works, transport, health, energy and power, local government, industries, tourism and public health engineering departments as official members. At maximum, 10 members will come from different walks of life in line with the law.

The spokesman said that the cabinet approved a grant of Rs1.9 billion for six public sector universities in the province and an additional grant of Rs5 million each for the Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, and University of Peshawar for better financial discipline and good performance. Also, ‘procedures and rules’ were okayed for the provision of funds for hospitals run under the public-private partnership.

Mr Saif said that the cabinet also approved the grant of representation to youth and lawyers in the KP Charities Commission.

The meeting allowedthe transfer of six kanals of government land to the forestry, environment and wildlife department to build offices and residences for the divisional forest and range officers (wildlife) in North Waziristan tribal district under the Merged Areas’ Integrated Development Forestry Sector Project to ‘protect, conserve and manage’ wildlife.

The spokesman said that the land identified for the purpose was in the possession of the district administration, while the relevant authority had already issued no objection certificate for it.

He said that cabinet also approved the transfer of four kanals government land to the KP Emergency Rescue Services in Mouza Daman area of Pabbi tehsil in Nowshera district to establish a Rescue 1122 station.

Mr Saif said the initiative would contribute towards the commissioning of the Rescue 1122 services to benefit the people and better manage the rescue resources in case of any disaster or emergency at tehsil level.

He said that the cabinet also approved the extension of the cost-sharing agreement for ‘single sourcing’ with the United Nations Development Programme to set up additional camping villages in various remote tourist valleys of the province under the revised ADP scheme.

Also, the cabinet granted approval to the declaration of the command area of Pehur High Level Canal Extension Project, Swabi, as required by the government.

Mr Saif said that the cabinet approved the appointment of MPA Zeenat Bibi as the government’s member to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Commission on the Status of Women (KPCSW) as recommended by the speaker of the provincial assembly at the request of the KPCSW chairperson.

Also, the transfer of 10 kanals of government land to the social welfare department for establishing a school and a hostel for orphan children in Charbagh area of Swat district was approved.

A proposal to re-organise two sub-divisions and create a new sub-division in Bajaur tribal district also got the cabinet’s nod.

The existing Khar sub-division will comprise Khar and Barang tehsils, while Nawagai sub-division will include Loi Mamund, Wara Mamund and Nawagai tehsils. The newly-created Utman Salarzai sub-division will consist of Salarzai and Utmankhel tehsils.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2022