DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Jun 18 (APP): Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Tuesday said coalition government partners could resolve their issues and differences through dialogue.
Talking to journalists at his residence ‘Kundi Model Farm’, he said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had reservations about the federal budget. However, a dialogue process was underway with the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) under the leadership of Senate Chairman Syed Yusuf Raza Gillani in that regard.
Governor Kundi expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Federal Minister for Water Resources Musadik Masood Malik for allocating Rs 19 billion for the Chashma Lift Canal project in the budget.
He said the project would be inaugurated by the end of year. “We are trying to make the lift canal 30 feet high,” he added.
He said that multiple development projects for Dera Ismail Khan were on the cards. Efforts were being made to establish an industrial zone in Dera Ismail Khan, besides an interchange on M-14 (Motorway) at Paniala and NADRA office, he added.
To a question, Kindi said the law and order was the main issue of Dera Ismail Khan, which was the responsibility of the provincial government after the 18th Constitutional Amendment. However, “we are trying our best to establish peace in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he added.
He said today, the people did not spend their evenings outside due to the deteriorating law and order situation. Security institutions, Customs’ officials and judges were being attacked in the province, he regretted.
He said he had suggested the provincial government to call a meeting of the Apex Committee on the issue but it even did not take up it in the cabinet meetings.
An in-camera session of the provincial assembly should be called to discuss the one-point agenda of law and order issue, he maintained.
He said that KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur had claimed after a meeting with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi that loadshedding would end in the province while the situation further worsened with the increased duration of loadshedding in Dera Ismail Khan.
The people of Dera had elected Ali Amin Gandapur for the third consecutive term and therefore it was his responsibility to resolve their problems, he added.
Kundi said he would take up the loadshedding issue with the prime minister, and vowed to play an active role for development, peace and prosperity of Dera Ismail Khan.
He said the farmers of Dera Ismail Khan were also ignored during the wheat procurement process in the province.
He alleged that jobs in the government departments were being given through bribery.
The governor said out of total 34 universities in the province, 26 did not have vice chancellors. Since his taking charge of office, he had not even a single summary for the appointment of vice chancellor in any university, he regretted.
He demanded that the merged tribal districts should be exempted from taxes this year as their people were even today fighting the war against terrorism.