ISLAMABAD – The sincerity and seriousness of both federal and provincial bureaucracies towards plight of Baloch people can be easily judged by the fact that they failed to distribute Rs 100 million for the empowerment of Baloch women despite the passage of more than four years.
The former President Pervez Musharraf announced the grant of Rs 100 million for the welfare, uplift and empowerment of women in Balochistan in December 2006. The grant was to be jointly utilized by federal and provincial ministries of women development. Subsequently, this amount was transferred to the provincial Women Development Department (WDD) in two trenches against different schemes.
Audit authorities in the report pointed out that the ministry arranged 500 sewing machines at a cost of Rs 1.500 million for poor women of Dera Bugti. However, the whereabouts of the distribution of 500 sewing machines were not known. Audit officials also could not verify the purchase and distribution of machines among the poor women in the absence of supporting record. Further, progress of development schemes under this package was not known.
“Management replied that the ministry was vigorously pursuing with government of Balochistan to utilize the balance amount as early as possible after completion of all codal formalities. In December 2009, the management was directed to take necessary measures to execute schemes expeditiously,” the audit report added. The official data reveals that the WWD Balochistan had to construct Auditorium in Bahadur Khan Women University, establish Maternity Home at Gwadar and strengthen Women Technical Training Centre (WTTC) but no project could be completed by utilizing the Rs 100 millions grant package.
The tasks of establishing Family Welfare Centre at Cadet College Mastung and Computer/ Hardware Workshop in Polytechnic Institute for Girls at Quetta were also not accomplished.
