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Thursday March 28, 2024

Opposition lawmakers blast govt for uneven distribution of uplift funds

By Riffatullah
April 17, 2020

PESHAWAR: Criticising the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for uneven distribution of development funds, the members of opposition parties in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday termed the move as a contempt of court.

“We have already staged protests outside the Chief Minister House and the provincial assembly against the government’s injustice,” said Awami National Party (ANP) provincial general secretary Sardar Hussain Babak. He claimed that the government was not allocating funds for any sector in the opposition lawmakers’ constituencies.

PTI was distributing the wealth of the province on the basis of the ruling party’s political needs, he said, adding, the people across the province have a right over these resources.

“People in all districts must receive the benefits when they share the burden of the internal and external debts. It is for the first time in the history of the province that people were subjected to this unprecedented injustice,” he claimed. He said the government was committing contempt of court by refusing to allocate funds to opposition lawmakers.

“The PTI even refused to distribute funds through the agreed formula of 35 percent for opposition and 65 percent for government lawmakers,” he maintained.

Jamaat-e-Islami MPA Inayatullah Khan said that the PTI government was not democratic. “The PTI leaders have been selected and do not believe in equitable distribution of national wealth. This government has no formula for wealth distribution and continuously violates court orders,” he said. He claimed the government had allocated Rs200 million for its own lawmakers, but was reluctant to release funds for lawmakers from opposition parties.

“The government is not willing to spend money in erstwhile Fata. It has devised a mechanism to spend the development funds through deputy commissioners. This shows it does not believe in democracy as it is empowering a non-elected person to utilize the funds,” he added.

The JI lawmaker said when the government was not willing to empower the people of the merged districts than there was no need for merging the area with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They should be given say in managing their affairs as an elected person knows the needs and requirements of the people better than a government officer, he added.

The government wanted to spend the money through bureaucracy as it was being done in the past, he said, adding, they don’t have any planning. The PTI has the most undemocratic people in the country’s history as they do not recognize the rights of opposition lawmakers, he complained.

“We had even agreed to this unjust formula as the opposition believed that otherwise the government would not allocate anything to the opposition lawmakers. However, the government later conveyed to the opposition that the formula would not be followed,” he added.

He said that even courts could not implement its decisions regarding the malpractices of the government.

Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) provincial President Sikandar Sherpao said all lawmakers should get equal percentage of funds for development schemes in their respective areas. “Our country’s history shows that development work is concentrated in certain districts while others remain underdeveloped. If we want planned and equal development in all regions we would have to allocate funds for all lawmakers through a just mechanism,” he argued.

He said that lawmakers’ jobs should be lawmaking and development schemes should be undertaken by local governments.