PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday unanimously approved a bill to increase the rent for ministers’ houses by 185 per cent and the amount required for their furnishing by 100 per cent.

The proposed law, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill, 2024, was tabled by law minister Aftab Alam Afridi in a session chaired by MPA Mohammad Idrees Khan.

The bill proposed hiking the rent for ministers’ houses from Rs70,000 to Rs200,000 and the fund for furnishing them from Rs500,000 to Rs1 million.

Through an amendment, Section 8(2) of the law has been substituted with the text, “At the time of entering upon office, if an official residence is not available, a minister shall, until such residence is provided by government and he does not have an official residence, be given an amount up to rupees two hundred thousand per month to rent a house and one time one million for its furnishing on submission of rent agreement and inventory of furnished goods to administrative department.”

Opposition criticises PTI govt for ‘not devolving powers to LBs, withholding their share in uplift funds’

The statement of objects and reasons for the bill said that the provincial ministers were entitled to requisition of houses at a rate of Rs70,000 per month, while an amount of Rs500,000 each is paid to allottees of the accommodation for furnishing houses (once in tenure) as laid down under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) Act, 1975.”

According to it, those rates were fixed in 2014 but high inflation led them to go up manifold, so a reasonable house cannot be hired with “this meagre” amount, which needs to be enhanced up to Rs200,000.

“Rs500,000 for furnishing the ministers’ houses is insufficient, so it needs to be enhanced up to Rs1 million.”

Earlier during the question hour, MPA of the opposition Awami National Party Arbab Usman Khan criticised the PTI’s provincial government for “not devolving powers to local bodies besides withholding their due shares in development funds.”

“The provincial government is violating the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2013, which was passed by this house,” he said.

Mr Khan said that PTI founder Imran Khan had taken a positive step by empowering local bodies but the provincial government had failed to devolve financial and administrative powers to them.

“The provincial government has tied the hands of mayors and chairmen of tehsil councils and village and neighbourhood councils by imposing the deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners on them,” he said.

The opposition lawmaker said that the KP Local Government Act, 2013, declared that 20 per cent of the Annual Development Programme of the province would be devolved to local bodies, but the provincial government had not paid a single penny to them since the enforcement of the law three years ago.

He said that local bodies had been demanding the supremacy of parliament and the rule of law but didn’t devolve powers to local bodies, which was their legal and constitutional right.

“The chair should refer this important matter to the relevant committee for a detailed discussion and ascertain the reasons for it,” he said.

The session was marred by the frequent adjournments due to a lack of quorum.

The chair ruled that it was the government’s responsibility to ensure the presence of its members in the house.

He later adjourned the session until November 11.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2024