PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has got allotted three official residences in Peshawar, according to information provided to the provincial assembly on Thursday.

The information provided in reply to a question by an opposition MPA was circulated in the provincial assembly during question-answer session, revealing that three official bungalows were declared chief minister’s houses.

According to the information, Chief Minister’s House’s Annexy No: 01-7, Chief Minister’s House No: 06-A, and Chief Minister’s House No: 07 are declared official residences of Mr Khattak.

All the three residences are situated on Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum Road (old), Peshawar.

This is a clear deviation from Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s election manifesto and a contradiction of his own public pronouncements as Mr Khattak had announced that he would stay at his own house at Hayatabad Township to promote austerity.

PTI chairman Imran Khan had also declared that Mr Khattak would not use official residence and the existing Chief Minister’s House would be converted into a public library. He had also said that Governor’s House would be converted into a university or a park for women.

On another occasion, the PTI chief announced at a press conference that Mr Khattak would shift to Chief Minister’s Annexy, a small cottage adjacent to his secretariat, because of the deteriorating security situation in the provincial capital.

But the official reply circulated in the assembly on Thursday belied PTI’s austerity claims as Mr Khattak had been allotted three residences.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl MPA Mufti Said Janan through a question sought details about the allotment of official residences to chief minister, his cabinet members, judges and senior officers in posh localities of the provincial capital. He also sought record about the cost of renovation of the official residences. However, details about the cost of renovation and maintenance were not provided to the MPA.

The document said that Adviser to Chief Minister on Food Qalandar Khan Lodhi was allotted two residences. Senior Minister Sirajul Haq, who belongs to Jamaat-i-Islami, has been allotted residence at Race Course Gardens Colony. Sirajul Haq, who earlier denied allotment of official residence, told the House that the bungalow allotted on his name was under construction.

Six ministers, one adviser and one special assistant to the chief minister have also been allotted houses.

The opposition lawmakers claimed that despite announcing austerity measures the government was spending huge amount on renovation, alteration and maintenance of residences of the chief minister, ministers and officers.

Information Minister Shah Farman did not agree with the official record about the allotment of houses to the chief minister and insisted that Mr Khattak had been staying at a small annexy.

He claimed that Chief Minister’s House was lying vacant and only routine repair and maintenance work was carried out there. He said that chief minister had given up luxurious lifestyle and coalition government had adopted policy to discourage VIP culture.

He also denied that Sirajul Haq had been allotted official residence. He said that PTI wanted to convert Governor’s House into park.

The treasury benches opposed the opposition’s stance to refer the question to the standing committee concerned. The government move was defeated when the said question was referred to the committee after Deputy Speaker Imtiaz Shahid put it for voice vote.

The government faced embarrassment on another occasion on Thursday when a resolution moved by the opposition, which got through, asked for reviving the project committees in fulfilment of the opposition MPAs attempts to have a say in the development schemes’ decision making.

“This provincial assembly requests the provincial government that in continuation with the previous eras, when chief minister directives/district development funds/and Tameer-i-Sarhad programme, were executed through project committees, these committees should be revived so that the development funds’ correct and transparent utilisation could be ensured and public’s problems could be resolved in an effective manner,” said the resolution, adopted by the provincial assembly through a majority vote.

To PTI’s embarrassment, MPAs of its coalition partner Jamaat-i-Islami also supported the resolution.

Minister Shah Farman attempted to oppose the resolution and left the House in protest while Finance Minister Sirajul Haq remained silent on the request of his party’s MPAs.