RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has made a 15pc deduction in funds provided to districts under the provincial finance commission award.

A senior official of the Punjab finance department confirmed to Dawn that the cut had been in order to complete development projects across the projects.

He said under the finance commission award, the government released about Rs9 billion to each of the districts for the payment of salaries and meet other expenditures. However, in November it started deducting from the monthly releases without making a formal announcement.

The shares of the district governments for development projects also faced a 15pc cut with effect from July 2015, he added.

Official says deductions in funds made to complete development projects across province

The official said the district governments had been asked to take austerity measures to ensure the payment of salaries to government employees without any delay.

Interestingly, the provincial government released millions of rupees to the districts before the local government elections but stopped the funds even for the development works after the polls.

In the Rawalpindi district, the government allocated Rs30 million each to the four National Assembly and eight provincial assembly constituencies. The funds for the provincial assembly seats were released four months ago but Rs120 million were yet to be provided to the National Assembly constituencies.

Commissioner Rawalpindi Sajid Zafar Dall admitted that the 15pc cent cut had been imposed on the shares of the districts but said it was not a new exercise.

“Basically, the finance department released less funds in the first two quarters to avoid surrendering extra funds by the departments and also for austerity measures.”

He said the PFC award cut was part of the austerity measures and would not affect the expenditures and salaries of government employees. He said the provincial government had also released development funds at the start of the fiscal year and the remaining amount would be released to the new local governments.

“Lahore’s orange line metro train, costing Rs165 billion, consumed the funds for development schemes across the province,” PTI MPA Ijaz Khan alleged.

He said the provincial government was spending taxpayers’ money on metro trains and buses instead of providing basic necessities to the citizens.

“Instead of spending money on education, healthcare and water supply schemes, the government is launching new projects just to make money through commissions.”

He said during the last three years, the provincial government failed to provide development funds to the opposition members for their constituencies and all the development works before and during the local government elections were given to those PML-N leaders who had lost the 2013 elections.

When contacted, PML-N former MNA Malik Shakil Awan said the metro train was being launched through Punjab government’s own resources and loans from a Chinese bank.

He said it was a wrong impression that the metro train consumed the development budget of other districts.

He said the development schemes in the provincial assembly constituencies had been completed before the elections and projects in the National Assembly constituencies would start soon after the release of funds in two to three months.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2016