Swabi: Following the federal government’s decision to give Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administration of the Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB), a question concerning the ownership of the organization’s research centers is currently circulating.
The board owns properties in 160 kanals in Balochistan, 654 kanals in Punjab, and 484 kanals in KP. In Sindh, it has no assets.
In KP, the PTB has a model farm in Buner, research stations in Mardan and Mansehra, and a large office and other facilities in the Hayatabad neighborhood of Peshawar.
The board operates a zonal office across two canals in the Gulberg neighborhood of Lahore, a 400-kanal estate in Jampur, and research stations in Okara and Gujarat in Punjab.
A research station in Pishin is the board’s only asset in Balochistan.
It also boasts an impressive infrastructure and a large number of cars. Only 240 of the 394 authorized positions are currently in operation. The remaining 154 are unoccupied.
PTB officials assert that the organization is the only one in the nation that is financially stable and can easily cover its expenses, and former employees receive pensions from the board.
The properties listed above were bought using funds collected through the Federal Tobacco Cess (FTC), with 99 percent of the funds coming from KP and only 1 percent from the rest of the nation, according to Ayaz Khan, a former member of the PTB’s board of directors, who spoke to Dawn.
The FTC rate was 15 percent per kilogram in 2024.
According to the source, all PTB assets should be turned over to the provincial administration since they belong to KP.
The source emphasized that “the federal government cannot sell or occupy the PTB’s assets, and if so, it would deepen the rivalry between the PTI-led government in KP and the coalition government in the center.”
“Preserving the interests of KP”
Senior Khyber Pakhtunkhwa officials agreed during discussions that the KP “administration’s responsibility to safeguard the province’s interests” was crucial, and that the government would “pay a heavy price for its slackness” if it failed.
Another source emphasized the necessity of establishing a KP Tobacco Board because the current season’s purchasing would shortly start.
The beginning of the buying season is just four months away. The insider said, “I’m not sure how the provincial government will finish the entire process on time.”