The government’s sincerity in bringing peace and development to the restive areas of FATA could be gauged from the fact that during the first two quarters of the current fiscal year (2011-12) only Rs 1 billion of Rs 15 billion was released.
A source in the FATA Secretariat told Pakistan Today that of the Rs 15 billion Annual Development Programme (ADP) only Rs 1 billion had been released by the Finance Ministry. “The Annual Development Plan (ADP) of Rs 15 billion, passed in July this year, also includes Rs 1.45 billion for FATA Development Authority to carry out development projects in mineral, industrial, skill development, small dams, township development and tourism sectors,” he added.
The official said the programme outlay carried approximately 20 percent increase compared with last financial year’s allocation. “More than 1,000 development schemes, including 300 new projects, had to be implemented during the current financial year while 70 percent of the total funds had been allocated for the ongoing schemes and 30 percent for new schemes,” he said.
Parliamentarians from FATA expressed serious concerns over the slow pace of release of funds which was hampering the objective of peace and development in the area.
Talking to Pakistan Today, FATA MNA Akhunzada Chattan said in the last fiscal year, only 30 percent of the total allocated funds were released. “The delay in release of funds badly hampers development in the region which is already lagging behind other parts of the country… from December to March you cannot execute development works in FATA due to harsh weather conditions,” he said.
Chattan said the government had also not launched any mega project in FATA. “Perturbed with this injustice, our parliamentary group met Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani many times but to no avail… he (the premier) cites country’s financial problems due to war on terror and natural calamities… but, on the other hand we (FATA lawmakers) cannot face our constituents as we have done nothing for them,” he said, demanding the government release developments funds for FATA in one go so that all ongoing and new projects could be completed in time. He said the government must realise that only development, education and employment would bring peace in restive FATA.
The official of FATA Secretariat said in the development strategy, the government had included improvement of the existing infrastructure and construction of new roads and bridges to improve connectivity and had emphasised on improved social sector delivery through upgrading and removal of deficiencies from the existing education and health institutions and providing drinking water facilities. “Under the ADP, funds distribution among the tribal agencies and frontier regions had been made on the basis of population and area with 65 percent and 35 percent consideration, respectively,” he said.
Another official of FATA Secretariat said the FATA Secretariat had initiated a case for the creation of 4,545 posts in 2009 amounting to Rs 11 billion but so far the Finance Division had agreed to release funds for 1,000 posts and even funds for those posts had not been released.
