PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Wednesday withdrew the Rs3.6 billion funds it had “released” to the tehsil governments on December 5, apparently due to the chief minister’s displeasure with the finance department for not adhering to his directives that the money be given away to the ruling PTI-backed councils only.

The finance department in a letter addressed to the deputy commissioners of 29 districts said that in pursuance of the chief minister’s directives, the authorisation of development funds released to the district accounts-IV on December 5 had been withdrawn.

The government had released Rs3.2 billion funds to 51 tehsil councils out of 131, and Rs372 million to the six tehsils of the merged districts on Dec 5. The development funds were released to the tehsil chairmen affiliated with PTI, ignoring those aligned with the opposition parties.

Following the release of funds, which had mostly gone to the ruling party-affiliated mayors and tehsil chairpersons, opposition parties decried discrimination and staged a protest outside the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.

The protest was meant to inform the incarcerated PTI founder Irman Khan about his party’s ‘discrimination’ in the release of funds.

They also plan to demonstrate outside the KP Assembly building on Dec 26.

Prior to the release of funds, sources said Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandpaur had directed the finance department to release Rs50 million to each tehsil government and Rs100 million to each city district government controlled by the PTI.

The sources said the finance department, instead of following the chief minister’s directives, decided to release the funds on merit in line with the Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) Award, and released funds to five of the opposition-held tehsils as well.

The sources said that finance department’s decision to adhere to PFC formula resulted into releases that did not match chief minister’s directives. This, the sources said angered the CM, and he issued directives for withdrawing the released funds.

The sources said that the provincial government was now claiming that the withdrawal of released funds was due to the protest of the opposition parties. The sources claimed after the withdrawal of funds, the chief minister will issue grants to his party-affiliated tehsil chairpersons.

Adviser to the chief minister on finance department Muzammil Aslam was not available for comments despite several attempts.

The tehsil and city district governments, which were released funds include tehsil government Abbottabad, Lower Tanawal in Abbottabad, Domail, Kaki, Maryan in Bannu district, Battgram, Chagharzai, Daggar, Gadizai and Gagra in Bunner district, Tangi in Charsadda district, Chitral and Drosh in Lower Chitral, Mastuj and Malko/Tarkho in Upper Chitral, Adinzai, Balambut, Khal and Lal Qilla in Lower Dir, Largan and Warai in Upper Dir, Ghazi and Khanpur in Haripur district.

Similarly, funds were leased to tehsil government Banda Daud Shah and Takht-i-Nusrati in Karak district, Gumbat and Lachi in Kohat, Dasu in Upper Kohistan, Bataira Kolai in Kolai-Palas, Batkhela, Dargai and Tana Baizai in Malakand, Darband and Oghi in Mansehra, Katlang and Mardan in Mardan.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2024