No funds allocated in budget for tribal districts: QWP leader

PESHAWAR: Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) provincial chairman Sikandar Sherpao said on Wednesday that no allocation in provincial budget 2018-19 had been made for the development of former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

Speaking at a news conference here, he rejected the provincial budget presented by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, saying it would add to the problems of the poor. Sikandar Sherpao said the provincial government could not recover arrears of the net hydel profit from the federal government in its last tenure. He said the government would not be able to achieve the targets set in the budget. He maintained the rulers were deceiving the people.

Sikandar Sherpao said no development work would be initiated in the next five years as the ongoing projects could not be completed during the stipulated time period. He said that the cost of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project had gone up to over Rs100 billion due to the depreciation of Pakistani currency against the US dollar

Sikandar Sherpao criticised the provincial government for sharing a new deadline for the completion of the BRT project, adding PTI rulers had been unable to come up to the expectation of people.

He said his party would vehemently oppose the bid to slash share of provinces in National Finance Commission (NFC) award. He believed such a move would deepen the sense of deprivation among smaller units of the federation.