Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Thursday announced in the National Assembly that the government had sufficient money to issue funds to all parliamentarians irrespective of their party affiliations.
Responding to questions regarding development funds for legislators, Gilani said that in the past opposition legislatures were always denied such funds. He said the funds were released under three categories: Public Works-I, which were fixed and each MNA was given Rs 10 million annually; Public Works-II, which depended on the budget passed by the government; and the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), which stood at over Rs 300 billion for the current financial year.
Gilani said the Prime Minister’s Prerogatives Funds were issued for small projects only and the PM could release them to anyone, adding that private institution interested to acquire such funds could submit their application at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. He said during his term as the National Assembly’s speaker during Benazir Bhutto’s government, he had given a ruling that development funds be released to all MNAs across the board, adding that Benazir’s stance on the ruling was that releasing funds was government’s prerogative and that the Speaker was not part of the government.
During the question hour, Parliamentary Secretary for Cabinet Farhat Khan said that 7,970 development schemes had been completed under the Peoples Works Programme. She said 13,805 development schemes had been proposed by parliamentarians during the last three years. She said the implementing agencies had been told to expedite work on the ongoing projects.
