Budget for KP’s tribal districts enhanced to Rs162bn: Shehryar Afridi

By Muhammad YaseenPublished On 04 Jan 2023

ISLAMABAD: State Minister for Narcotics Control Shehryar Khan Afridi on Wednesday said that the government has enhanced budget for tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from Rs55 billion to Rs162bn.

Responding to a question during the Question Hour in the National Assembly, Shehryar Afridi said that Rs62bn has been allocated to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in lieu of “recurrent and development budget”.

He said that the federal government has approved  Rs1.1 bn under Prime Minister National Health Program for poor families in erstwhile FATA, Radio Pakistan reported.

The minister said that KP has also earmarked  Rs11bn for the merged districts and added that five years income and sales tax exemption has also been granted to erstwhile tribal areas. He informed the house after the merger now all financial matters of the erstwhile tribal region are being catered for by the KP government.

Earlier on November 21, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had said that the development of underprivileged tribal districts was among the top priorities of the provincial government.

Addressing a tribal Jirga in Khyber today, CM Mahmood had said that huge funds had been allocated for the newly merged districts to remove deprivations of people of these areas.

The chief minister said, “Interest-free loan is being given to tribal youth under Insaf Rozgar Scheme.” On the occasion, the CM Mahmood announced giving the status of Tehsil to Tirah and the establishment of a hospital in the area.