Frontier Printers and Publishers Association (FPDA) said on Monday that the controversial policy of PTI government in KP directing Textbook Board authorities to go into open tender system at the country level in the name of "transparency" has inflicted a financial loss of Rs 50 million on provincial exchequer.
"The new tender policy on the one hand caused closure of 97 percent of printing press in KP besides rendering thousands of labourer jobless, while on the other hand it has also inflicted a financial loss of Rs 50 million to the national exchequer," alleged Iqtidar Ali Akhunzada, President FPPA.
While talking to media Iqtidar Ali Akhundzada has said out of Rs 50 million losses around 18 million are caused due to exorbitant rates of printing contracts on which the provincial government gave tenders to printers from Punjab. He said this year the printing bill of printers is around Rs 18 million more than the previous year's rate when the printing was mostly done by printing presses of KP.
He further said remaining Rs 32 million losses are caused due to changing in pricing formula by the Textbook Board for adjustment of additional Rs 18 million burden which the board has to pay for printing. He said for adjustment of Rs 18 million additional amount, the board has the option of increasing rates of books, but they avoided it in the wake of public hue and cry and opted for dropping its royalty from 13.5 percent to seven percent.
Chairman FPPA said earlier the board was charging a royalty of 13.5 percent from printers over printing bills which has now been reduced to seven percent which caused an additional loss of Rs 32 million to the province. He also disclosed that the board has failed in completing printing of books on its deadline ending in end of February 2016, as a result of which children will face difficulty in getting books from market.
Iqtidar said Text Book authorities have arranged a function wherein KP Education Minister Muhammad Atif Khan performed inauguration of free text books among students in the province. He said the printers of Punjab who have taken printing tenders from the board have failed to complete printing of books till end of February. PTI government in KP has changed the printing policy of text books and opted for open tender policy instead of allocation of printing on capability of presses basis.
After announcement of new policy more than 80 percent of textbook business has gone to Punjab through open tender, forcing the local printers to shut down their units and lay off staff both regular and contractual. Provincial Minister for Education Atif Khan said that the new policy is introduced for ensuring transparency in awarding printing contracts. He said we have been mandated by masses over our slogan of transparency and therefore this decision has been taken, he added.
Comments
Comments are closed.