Former PTI Govt. Utilizes Rs837m From LG Budget As Discretionary Funds: Center For Governance And Public Accountability (CGPA)

The former PTI led KP government has utilized Rs837million from budget of local government as discretionary funds by the then Chief Minister and Finance Minister KP in 2017-18.

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Jun, 2018 ) :The former PTI led KP government has utilized Rs837million from budget of local government as discretionary funds by the then Chief Minister and Finance Minister KP in 2017-18.

According to a press release of Center for Governance and Public Accountability (CGPA) Thursday said that former PTI led Government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has utilized Rs837 million from the budget of the Local Government.

In 2014, PTI Chairman Imran Khan had written a letter to the then Chief Minister KP Parvez Khattak to stop release of discretionary funds for himself, others ministers and bureaucrats.

This decision came when a number of MPAs and cabinet members were allegedly allocated development funds and there were also reports of alleged misuse of development funds.

The other reason was the speech of Chairman PTI Imran Khan at the floor of the Parliament in which he accused Federal Govt on tax evasions and poor tax collection.

However the PTI led Government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has utilized Rs837 million from the budget of the Local Governments as discretionary funds by the then Chief Minister and Finance Minister in financial year 2017-18.

Out of total Rs837 million development funds, Rs280 million were at the discretion of Finance Minister and Rs557 million were at the discretion of Chief Minister. The information on the allocation, releases and expenditure is still available on the website of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Department.

According to CGPA press release, the highest allocation of Rs490 million was allocated to the home district (Nowshera) of the then Chief Minster Pervez Khattak followed by Rs200 million allocation to the home town (Lower Dir) of Finance Minister Muzafar Said.

The other districts which received the discretionary funds were Swabi Rs55 Million, Lakki Marwat Rs19 Million, Charsadda Rs18.7 Million, Peshawar Rs11.3 Million, Mardan Rs10.1 Million, Swat Rs8 Million, Malakand Rs7 Million, Chitral Rs 5.5 Million, Buner Rs5 Million, karak Rs2.7 Million, Upper Dir Rs1.7 Million, Bannu and Haripur Rs1 Million each and Mansehra Rs0.7 Million.

The districts which did not receive discretionary funds includes Kohistan, Shangla, Hangu, Tank, Torghar, Battagram, DI Khan, Kohat and Abbottabad.

Program Manager CGPA Malik Masood said former PTI Government always blamed other provincial governments on the allocations of discretionary funds while the same practice continued in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He alleged that rather leaving the local government budget at the discretion of the local government department,the PTI government used it as a tool for political maneuvering.

He said that this practice have increased unequal distribution of resources among the districts. The funds were passed in the budget for the local government while later allegedly twisted to discretion of former Chief Minister and Finance Minister, he claimed.