PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Information Minister Shoukat Yousfzai on Friday informed the provincial assembly that the government was actively working against corruption and this was manifest from the way all its affairs were based on merit and transparency.
He said this while responding to a joint calling attention notice of Advocate Khushdil Khan of Awami National Party (ANP) and Inayat Ullah Khan of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) about millions of rupees corruption and mismanagement in KP Education Foundation.
The movers of the notice called for the formation of a house committee to probe the matter. The session was chaired by Deputy Speaker Mehmood Jan.
Taking the floor, the information minister said that as per the business rules of the house, no calling attention notice could be referred to parliamentary committee. He held the demand of the opposition as unjust and uncalled for and urged the chair to put the matter to vote.
The remarks of information minister irritated the opposition members who afterwards stood on their chairs and created pandemonium in the house. They later started chanting slogans, surrounded the chair and staged a walkout. In the meantime, the chair put off the proceedings due to a lack of quorum.
The information minister said that the government was endeavouring to eliminate the curse of corruption in the society, adding that PTI came into power on the basis of its resolve to end corruption.
Supporting the information minister, Special Assistance to Chief Minister on Information Technology Kamran Khan Bangash said that the removal of the managing director of the foundation reflected the stance of provincial government against corruption and corrupt.
The future of the students was being saved by the removal of MD who was found guilty of corruption and misuse of authority.
He said that according to the report of director monitoring, the MD released Rs35.47 million for fake enrollment in 90 ghost schools of district Manshera.
The opposition members, thorough their calling attention notice, contended that millions of rupees have been embezzled under the head of Iqra Farogh Taleem Scheme from the foundation while a huge amount has been withdrawn on the name of ghost schools.
They alleged that all the misappropriation and corruption has been done with the support of officers and adviser. They demanded the formation of a committee to probe the matter and identify the culprits.
The leader of the Opposition Akram Khan Durrani of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) termed the matter serious and demanded to investigate the incident.
He said that the concerned secretary and adviser to CM on education should also be removed from their posts.
Parliamentary leader of ANP, Sardar Hussain Babak also asked for constituting a parliamentary committee to probe the matter.
Meanwhile, KP Assembly passed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Stamp (Amendment) Bill 2019 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Monitoring Authority Bill 2019 was tabled in the house. Both bills moved by Special Assistant Kamran Bangash which were passed.
Earlier, at the outset of assembly proceedings, Mehmood Ahmad Khan of MMA, through his calling attention notice, said that fund has not been allocated for district development initiative that has delayed accomplishment of developmental projects.
Taking the floor, provincial minister Dr Amjad informed the house that Rs300 million have been earmarked and summary has been forwarded to the chief minister to increase the allocation.
The chair adjourned proceedings of the house till Monday at 1:30 PM.