QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court (BHC) has ordered elimination of all uplift schemes formulated to benefit influential personalities in the province, most often politicians, from the next year’s Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and instructed all secretaries and other departmental heads to include in the programme only the schemes aimed at benefiting the masses.

A two-member bench of the BHC comprising Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel and Justice Kamran Mullahkhel banned inclusion of “individual-based” schemes in the PSDP for 2018-19 and instructed the provincial government to submit reports about the next year’s programme to the court.

Provincial Minister for Communications and Construction Mir Asim Kurd, Chief Minister’s Adviser on Excise and Taxation Abdul Karim Nosherwani, Leader of Opposition in the provincial assembly Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal, Awami National Party’s MPA Zamarak Khan Achakzai and Additional Chief Secretary for Planning and Development Naseebullah Bazai were among the functionaries and officials who appeared before the court.

“Unfortunately in our province the development budget is utilised wrongly..., which is the prime cause of our deprivation,” Justice Mandokhel said and described the development projects as “political bribery”.

Reprimanding the officials concerned, he said the court had a list of 450 individual-based schemes and had photographs of tanks bearing painted flags of political parties.

Mr Bazai informed the court that there were a number of individual-based projects in the PSDP that were often included just days before adoption of the provincial budget.

He also told the court that blocking such schemes might lead to hurling of life threats.

It was shameful that MPAs were involved in threatening bureaucrats to include the projects of their choice in the PSDP, observed a judge.

Clearing his own position and that of all MPAs, Chief Minister’s Adviser on Excise and Taxation Nosherwani submitted before the court that “ironically bureaucrats were running the affairs of the province, as the politicians only acted as if they were working on daily wages”.

“Eleven water schemes have been approved for my constituency, but the funds have yet to released,” he added.

The court ordered the secretaries to start working on the new PSDP immediately and include in it water, education and health projects purely on the basis of collective benefits of the masses.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2018