PESHAWAR: Adviser to the chief minister on health Ihtesham Ali on Monday informed the provincial assembly that an investigation was under way into the multibillion procurement scandal at his department from the caretaker government`s period.

He was responding to a calling attention notice by MPA Obaidur Rehman regarding alleged corruption in purchase of surgical gloves for the Timergara district hospital.

With Speaker Babar Saleem Swati in the chair, Mr Rehman told the session that in 2023-24, Rs140 million was allocated for buying 65,000 surgical gloves for the Timergara DHQ hospital but the hospital got only 2,200 boxes of gloves, which were not even surgical.

He said that those boxes cost Rs5.5 million but the government was irregularly charged over Rs135 million for it.

Responding to the calling attentionnotice, adviser to the chief minister on health Ihtesham Ali said that he even didn`t agree with the department`s response as well as what the MPA spoke about.

`The MPA is talking around Rs140 million but what happened in the procurement of Rs5-6 billion under the caretakers in the health department has no match in the country`s history,` he said.

Mr Ali said that Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur had formed a committee, which also had the additional chief secretary and establishment secretary as members, to probe the matter.

He said that the probe was in its final stages, and as soon as its report was ready, he would share it with the house.

The assembly also deferred the KP Rights to Information Amendment Bill, 2025, and KP Judicial Officers Welfare Bill, 2025, until next Tuesday after the opposition members raised questions about them.

Regarding the KP Mines and Mineral Bill, 2025, which was introduced in the house on April 4, Speaker Swati said that he had informed the chief minister about the lawmakers` reservations about the bill.

He said that he also spoke to the secretary of the mines and mineral develop-ment department and arranged a briefing for members at the Jirga Hall of the provincial assembly next Monday.

`The mines and mineral development department will brief lawmakers about the current and proposed bills in detail in order to address their concerns. The house will take up the bill next Tuesday, he said.

The speaker, however, said that the bill could even be referred to the relevant committee of the house if the members were not satisfied with the department`s briefing about it.

He said that the briefing was important as MPAs usually didn`t have time to go through the proposed law.

Lawmaker Ahmad Karim Kundi raised the issue of cheating in exams through a calling attention notice.

He noted that teachers were visiting MPAs to seek their recommendation for exam duties.

`Exam centres have literally become shops, badly affecting the quality of education,` he said.

MPA ArbabUsman alsorecommended that the government abolish education boards and opt for standardised testing.

Elementary and secondary education minister Faisal Khan Tarakai told thehouse that the provincial government had merged private and educational halls to improve educational standards.

He also said that CCTV cameras had been installed in examination halls that would be monitored from a centralised control room, while district administration had also been engaged to discourage cheating in exams.

The minister said that exam staff had also been assigned duties through an automatic system unlike the previous manual system.

When the chair gave the floor to MPA Dr Ajamd Ali to speak about the purported deadly `drone strike` in Katlang area of Mardan district, another member, Sobia Shahid of the opposition PMLN, pointed towards a lack of quorum in the house.

Speaker Swati directed staff members of the house to ring the bells for two minutes. He later announced a break for prayers.

However, when the house met again, it still lacked the required strength as only 26 members were in attendance. The bells were rung for two more minutes but the quorum issue persisted.

The speaker later put off the session until 2pm on April 14.