KEEPING in view the current situation where the price hike has broken the back of common man, the PTI-led Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Government has very rightly set aside a record amount of Rs 418 billion for development projects in the Rs 1.33 trillion budget for the next fiscal year.
Enhanced spending on the development projects indeed will trigger an economic activity in the province which will provide job opportunities as well as enhance the income levels of the people.
This in fact is the only way to help the people battle the inflation. It is, however, important that development funds are also released in a timely manner so that the people could cultivate its benefits.
Special emphasis should be given to the improvement of infrastructure, especially relating to the health and education as development of these two social sectors is of immense importance to take forward the country and bring improvement in the living standards of the people.
We will also suggest the KP government to specially focus on tribal districts which lag far behind in development.
Central and other provincial governments must also contribute to this process as the tribal people have rendered sacrifices for peace and stability of the whole country.
The KP budget also envisages some other important measures for which the provincial government deserves applause.
Apart from increasing the salaries and extending some other benefits to the employees, an announcement has been made to regularize sixty-three thousand public sector employees.
This would definitely have sent a wave of jubilation amongst the employees who had been serving in different departments on a contract basis over the last many years.
We have been suggesting in these columns that both the federal and provincial governments must bring to an end ad-hocism in public sector organizations and recruit the people on a permanent basis but it should be done strictly keeping in view the merit.
Doing so will go a long way in improving the performance of departments and ensure good governance.
There is no denying that the pension budget is also ballooning and proving to b e a big burden on the exchequer.
This issue can be addressed by coming up with a contributory pension scheme or payment of lump-sum amount to employees on retirement as is the case in private sector.
