PESHAWAR: Members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday complained about the growing fee in private educational institutions, including medical colleges, and urged the government to take action against all those violating the laws in this respect.
During the assembly’s session here, opposition leader Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan said there was no regulatory authority for private educational institutions, which charged fee at will and operated like an industry.
He said some schools and colleges had a chain and used their name as a brand to exploit the public and thus, forcing parents to sell properties for payment of children’s fee.
The opposition leader said only few medical colleges fulfilled the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council requirements for operations.
He asked the government to establish a check and balance system and a proper fee structure for the educational institutions to stop the parents’ exploitation.
Health Minister Shaukat Yousufzai said a private medical college in the province charged Rs1 million from every student as donation.
He said the reserved seats mean for overseas students were filled in by local students, who paid heavy fee.
The minister, however, said no one would be allowed to fleece the people in the name of education.
Earlier, a question regarding teaching hospitals of the province was referred to the relevant standing committee for comments.
PML-N MPA Akbar Hayat said the primary healthcare initiative had employees in surplus.
Nighat Orakzai of PPP said the local bomb disposal unit was short of necessary equipment and that there was a need for the early creation of a health regulatory authority in the province.
Local Government Minister Inayatullah Khan expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of different development authorities, which, he said, were busy in sale and purchase of plots and were doing nothing for the people’s welfare.
The treasury and opposition benches hurled accusations against each other in the provincial assembly over the distribution of development funds which caused uproar in the House.
Lawmakers started debate in the assembly on the allocation of funds for development schemes after two days break. Opposition benches alleged that government had ignored them in the annual development plan and treasury members had been given priority.
Remarks of Senior Minister Sirajul Haq, who also holds the portfolio of the finance, stirred commotion in the house by saying former prime ministers Yousaf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf had diverted development funds from the militancy-ravaged Malakand Division to own constituencies in Multan and Gujar Khan respectively.
He said the National Accountability Bureau had begun inquiries against former prime ministers, who had appeared before courts in corruption cases against them.
The minister said the coalition government in the province had hired consultants to eliminate corruption in development schemes.
He said the provincial finance commission would distribute funds among districts on the basis of poverty.
Mr Haq rejected the opposition’s allegations that he had allocated funds for the construction of 60-kilometre roads in his constituency.
MPA Nighat Orakzai said Sirajul Haq, who considered himself pious, had diverted funds to his constituency, while members of the opposition had been given Rs10 million only for development schemes.
She said the government had violated the Constitution and breached the privilege of the house by the act.
Minister for Local Government Inayatullah Khan said the government believed in the equal distribution of funds and that opposition members had been allocated more funds than those of the treasury.
He said local council funds had not been released for certain technical reasons.
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