Survey shows people in KP want increase in health, education allocation

PESHAWAR: Over half of the population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa trust local government tiers for services and majority of the districts want the government to allocate more funds for the education and health sectors.

A survey completed by the provincial Finance Department to engage over three million citizens in the budget-making for the year 2018-19 provided an insight to the planners to allocate budget according to priorities identified by citizens.

The survey was undertaken by the Finance Department through mobile SMS covering three million subscribers from all five major mobile operators in all the districts of the province. Citizens were asked to identify priority sectors for allocating the major chunk of the budget for the year 2018-19.

As per the results, 48.94 percent of the people voted for increase in the education budget and 28.67 percent people asked for increase in the health services budget. Similarly, 12.19 percent people voted for increase in funds for road infrastructure and 10.20 percent people in KP wanted increase in funds for water supply and sanitation services.

Moreover, the survey was also conducted to find out which tier of the government was the best for speedy and convenient services delivery. Almost 56.57 percent of the people voted in favour of village councils, followed by 27.23 percent votes in favour of district government, and 16.20 percent voted in favour of Tehsil Municipal Administration for efficient services. More than 50 percent people from Charsadda, Lower Dir, Chitral, Malakand, Bannu, Upper Dir, Buner, Shangla, Battagram and Kohistan voted for increase in the budget for education sector.

The initiative is targeted to encourage responses from citizens in the budget making process along with informing general public that the government gives proper consideration and value to the opinion of the masses and that the policies of the government are aligned with the desires of citizens.

According to the survey, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa wants education on the top of everything followed by state-of-the-art health facilities. It indicates that 48.94 percent people voted for an increase in education budget, followed by 28.67 percent people asking for increase in health services budget.

Besides, 12.19 percent people want more funds for better road infrastructure and 10.20 percent people in the province wanted increase in funds for water supply and sanitation services. Peshawar wants increase in education budget, led by 46.57 percent people, followed by health with 33.19 percent votes and trusts village council, led by 50.47 percent for services delivery, followed by district government with 37.46 percent votes.

Mardan and Charsadda want hike in education and health budget and trust village council and district government for service delivery. Swat has donated a chunk to road infrastructure. However, education budget is still the priority, followed by health and people trust village council and tehsil administration for services.

Lower Dir has shown concerns over water and sanitation services along with a very high demand for increase in education budget. Chitral has shown an overall progress for roads comparatively with other districts, and has good faith on district government.

Upper Dir has also shown very strong desire for increase in funds for road infrastructure, comparatively with other options. Swabi wants more funds injection on education and health, with a chunk in road infrastructure as well.

Abbottabad seeks funds for education, health and road infrastructure. Malakand wants more funds injection on education and health. Nowshera, Kohat and Karak want more funds injection on education and health Dera Ismail Khan demands funds for water, roads, health and education while Bannu focuses on roads and health after education.

Lakki Marwat seems to have road infrastructure as their bottleneck, with 25.22 percent people demanding for roads even higher than health services.

Mansehra has diverse issues from all sectors, the water and sanitation services are running behind health, followed by good demand for roads. Buner, Haripur, Hangu, Battagram Shangla and Kohistan demand better education and health services among other sectoral development.

The newly created district of Torghar is fairly looking for overall improvement in standard of life, demanding roads, water along with health and education at some fair ratio.