Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has announced a free laptop scheme for students across the province, urging the Punjab government to follow KP’s welfare model in providing public services.
Addressing a gathering, Gandapur emphasized that KP had provided health insurance to its entire population through the Health Card Plus program and was now extending life insurance benefits. He called on the Punjab chief minister to implement similar initiatives for its entire population.
"We provided health coverage to our entire population, and now we are offering life insurance as well. Punjab should also ensure these facilities for all its people," he stated. He further said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would also distribute laptops as per the same proportion of population that Punjab did.
Economic performance
Highlighting KP’s economic performance, Gandapur claimed that despite financial challenges, his government had increased provincial revenue by 55% and maintained a budget surplus of Rs176 billion.
"Punjab should also increase its income from 12% to 55%. We are the only province that successfully achieved the IMF target," Gandapur claimed. He contrasted this with Punjab, alleging that the province failed to meet its Rs300 billion surplus target and instead incurred a deficit of Rs146 billion.
Social welfare programs
Gandapur also announced that the KP government is facilitating the marriages of 4,000 deserving girls, providing them Rs200,000 each as financial assistance.
"Punjab’s performance is not even 1% of ours. I am ready for a debate on this," he remarked, throwing an open challenge to Punjab’s leadership.
