Clarification

PESHAWAR: While clarifying a news item published in The News, the spokesman of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government said that the KP government has allocated Rs16.4 million under head Object A03807-POL for Plane H. Copter, S Cars and M/ Cycles. This is an object head which is used for POL, of all types of conveyance by the PIFRA system common to all the departments of the provincial government. Even if the allocation of budget is only for POL of motorcycles, the whole object Head A03807-POL for a plane H. Copter, S, Cars and motorcycles is used in the system which has been misconceived by the reporter.
Actually there in no such allocation for POL of the aero plane or H. Copter for Elementary and Secondary Education Department.Similarly this department has allocated budget for hardware and software to the tune of Rs607 million for schools as well as offices of the E and SE Department. This department has also allocated Rs2000,000 million for missing facilities as well as Rs30,000 million and Rs70,000 million for schools and building repairs respectively, added the spokesman in a press release.
Under RTI Act 2014 this department provided the information regarding activity wise budget information which was presented or misconceived in a wrong way. This slackness of the report indicates the non-technical attitude of the reporters towards budget technicalities and needs to be improved for future reporting.
Waseem Abbasi adds: The News stands by its story as it was based on the certified information provided by the Elementary and Secondary Education Department. The document provided by the department did not clarify that the POL allocation is for motorcycle fuel as it clearly says POL for H copter and A plane. How can a reporter guess from such sentence that department actually means motorcycle by stating Helicopter and A plane?
Secondly the information about software and hardware was mentioned in the story as per certified documents. If there is any misreporting it is caused by wrong information provided by the department which is an offence under RTI law and this correspondent reserves the right to move the information commission against the department for false statement.
The story also quoted the KP minister for education and maintained highest standards of professionalism.