ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has approved solarization of tubewells in Balochistan with the objective to provide uninterrupted electricity to farmers of the province and to reduce the electricity losses.
The decision to this effect was taken by the Prime Minister during a meeting Monday. The chief minister of Balochistan as well as concerned federal and provincial ministers and senior officials attended the meeting.
The government has been providing billions of rupees subsidy for tubewells in Balochistan in view of the social and economic conditions of the province, however, the farmers continue facing difficulties and at the same time, the quantum of circular debt has also been rising, the meeting was informed.
Owing to consequences of power losses both the province and the country have been suffering, therefore, there is need to resolve the problem on priority basis, said the prime minister.
The effective and appropriate use of subsidies is government priority, he added.
The prime minister said that the solarization of the tubewells would not only provide electricity to the farmers but would also help reduce the electricity losses.
He directed the Power Division and the provincial government to develop a comprehensive strategy for implementation of the project with timeline.
The Finance Ministry, in the budget for the ongoing fiscal year, has allocated Rs3 billion subsidy on account of tariff differential for agriculture tube wells in Balochistan as opposed to Rs8 billion allocation in the budget and revised target for the previous fiscal year – 2019-20, showing a reduction of Rs5 billion in the subsidy.
Meanwhile, the prime minister in a tweet congratulated the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government for making KP first province in the country with Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for all KP-domiciled citizens.
The premier added that 40,000,000 residents had been covered with free health insurance, free treatment up to 1,000,000 rupees per family per year in over 400 government/private hospitals across the province.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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