PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan on Thursday said that like other sectors, mass scale reforms were also underway in the tax regime of the province, which has resulted in significant increase in the annual revenue collection of the provincial government.
He stated that when the incumbent provincial government came into power, the annual revenue collection of the provincial government was Rs. 31 billion which now has been increased to Rs. 56 billion adding that despite the difficult financial situation due to COVID-19, the provincial government made no increase in the provincial taxes rather it provided significant relief to people in the various provincial taxes.
He expressed these views while addressing an inaugural ceremony of up-gradation Pensioners Facilitation Center and Information and Complaint Redressal Cell at office of the Accountant General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Special Assistant to CM Kamran Bangash, Controller General Accounts Farrukh Ahmad Hamidi, Accountant General Murtaza Khan, Secretary Information Arshid Khan and other high ups attended the ceremony.
In his address to the ceremony, the chief minister said that credit for reforms in public sector entities went to Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf adding that in 2013, PTI provincial government had started reforms process from the scratches and today, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was at forefront in terms of reforms initiatives. He said that people of this province have brought PTI back into power with two third majority which was undoubtedly a result of these reforms and good governance strategy of the previous provincial government. “Provision of maximum facilities to general public was the core of the reforms agenda of his government,” he added.
Touching upon the public friendly initiatives of the current provincial government, Mahmood Khan said that Citizen’s Facilitation Centers and Service Delivery Centers were being established to facilitate people in the provincial departments and institutions. He said that more reforms would be introduced in all the departments directly linked to the people so that these departments could deliver as per the expectations of the general public.
He appreciated the reforms introduced in accountant general office and expressed the hope that reforms process would continue in order to facilitate the public as much as possible.
Earlier, the chief minister formally inaugurated the up-gradation of Pensioners Facilitation Center and Information and Complaint Redressal Cell and visited the various sections of the centers. He was also given a detailed briefing about the facilities being provided to pensioners in the center.