‘CM wasting public funds to pay for heli-visits’

Rasheed says VVIP movements compromise relief activities.

LAHORE: Punjab Assembly Leader of Opposition Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed presented another White Paper on Wednesday detailing expenses incurred on Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s daily visits of flood-affected districts of the province.

He was speaking to journalists. Rasheed said Rs5 million were being spent daily to procure aviation fuel for the CM’s helicopter. He said the money could have been redirected towards relief activities. Rasheed said the public had rejected the CM’s Flood Relief Fund. He said the money allocated for the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Project should be used to resolve problems of those affected by floods.

Rasheed said ministers and bureaucrats had also spent an exorbitant amount of money on touring affected areas. He said this money should have been used for the welfare of those affected. Rasheed said a district official had written to the chief secretary informing him that VVIP movements compromised relief activities. He said the chief minister should stop touring affected areas and use the money saved for the benefit of those affected. Rasheed said the chief minister was wasting public funds by visiting affected areas as he arrived their by a helicopter without any relief provisions. He termed Sharif’s visits as a photo opportunity. Rasheed said his movements had impeded the relief activities being carried out by the army and the district authorities. He said these movements should stop to ensure that relief activities could be carried out consistently. Rasheed said the Finance Department was preparing a summary to divert money from developmental projects to finance Sharif’s tours across the Punjab. He said the government was planning to divert finances from the amounts allocated to education and infrastructure. Rasheed said this was a criminal offence. He said funds should be diverted from the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Project and it should be shelved. Rasheed said the amount devoted for the project was ample enough to resolve the problems of those affected. He said members of the cabinet should reduce the expenses incurred on inspecting by 25 per cent and devote the savings towards relief activities. Rasheed said the Law Minister’s terming of the report of the commission probing the June 17 Model Town violence as ‘incomplete’ conceded that Sharif was responsible for it.  He said the report was being amended to save those responsible. Rasheed said this was why Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan had time and again stated that the matter could not be investigated transparently till the Sharif brothers were in power.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2014.