Centre for Governance and Public Accountability (CGPA) has criticized the allocation of development funds to Members of Provincial Assembly (MPAs) saying it is against the manifesto of PTI who vowed to eliminate the practice of giving discretionary funds to parliamentarians.
According to the pledges of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Election Manifesto 2013 elimination of all discretionary and non developmental funds to parliamentarians under the expenditure emergency is against it, said a report issued by CGPA here Wednesday.
According to report acquired through Right to Information (RTI), CGPA endorsed and appreciated PTI’s commitment to stop development funds to legislators.
CGPA analysis showed that MPAs got total Rs 8.5 billion through the Chief Minister directives under the fourth Annual Development Program.
The analysis shows that Minister for Education Muhammed Atif PK-30 got highest allocation of Rs.343 million under four heads in 2014-15 followed by Chief Minister KP Pervez Khattak, Rs.251 million, Khaliq ur Rehman, Rs.198 million, Shah Farman, PK-10 and Ali Amin got each Rs.190 million.
On the other hand, 22 women MPAs were allocated a sum of Rs.55 million in which Anesa Zeb Tahirkheli topped with Rs.20 million allocation followed by Nighat Orakzai Rs.15 million, Meraj Hamayun and Mehar Taj Roghani, Rs.10 million each.
MPA Soran Singh who was elected on minority seat from PTI got Rs.50 million, while Askar Pervez (JUIF) and Fredrick Azeeem (PMLN) got Rs.10 million each.
On average, MPAs of Awami Jamhoria Itihad Pakistan got the highest allocation of Rs.98.2 million, followed by PTI’s parliamentarians with Rs.82.3 million and JI with Rs.79 million. ANP got the lowest allocation of Rs.20 million.
Under these four development budget heads, Peshawar got the major share of Rs.1.19 billion followed by Nowshera with Rs.1.04 billion, Mardan with Rs.998 million, Swabi with Rs.843 million and Swat with Rs.677 million.
The deprived districts got the lowest allocation in last fiscal year among which Torghar district got only Rs.32 million, Tank Rs.35 million and Battagram Rs.63 million.
Out of these four ADP heads for 2014-15, DI Khan got Rs.464 million, Abbotabad Rs.397 million, Dir Upper Rs.393 million, Haripur Rs.307 million, Charsadda Rs.274 million, Dir Lower Rs.260 million, Kohat Rs.228 million, Karak Rs.193 million, Bannu Rs.177 million, Mansehra Rs.177 million, Buner, Rs.169 million, Malakand Rs.145 million, Shangla Rs.113 million, Hang Rs.112 million, Kohistan Rs.103 million, Chitral Rs.88 million, and Lakki Marwat got Rs.84 million.
Muhammad Anwar, Executive Director CGPA, stated that allocation of development funds to MPAs is one of the main bottlenecks in establishing strong local government system in the province.
MPAs want their names on the development schemes, which they consider can boost their political statures.
Malik Masood, CGPA Program Manager also showed his strong reservations on MPAs funding.
He stated that PTI was determined to stop allocation of development funds to legislators.
He urged the KP government to allocate more funds to local government entities for new projects which would provide an opportunity to districts for deciding their own needs and priorities.
