Pakistan

Punjab govt spends millions to inaugurate Danish schools

As part of austerity drive, chief minister had banned the use of sugar in tea.

Anwer Sumra March 18, 2011

LAHORE:

Although the Punjab government claims to be on an austerity drive, it has spent Rs12 million only on inauguration ceremonies for two Danish schools.

One school was inaugurated in Rahim Yar Khan and another in Hasilpur. The inaugural ceremony of a third school is yet to be held, which was postponed twice because the chief minister was not free to attend, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The red-carpet ceremonies were attended by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, his brother PML-N Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif, ruling party legislators, officials of donor agencies, educationists and journalists, among others.

As many as 30 people were flown from Lahore for a night. They returned on a Daewoo bus. The amount of Rs12 million does not include travel expenditures. Some participants were also paid stipend by the government.

To arrange inaugural ceremonies for three schools, the finance department released funds of Rs12.03 million as supplementary grant. The funds were given to District Coordination Officers (DCO) in Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalnagar.

The Danish schools aim to fight poverty by educating gifted children from the underprivileged and vulnerable classes of society, said an official.

An official of the finance department said the Punjab government was in a financial crisis since the present political class took over. The government has had to avail overdraft to run government affairs. Presently, the overdraft amounts to Rs15 billion.

Shahbaz launched an austerity drive in the public sector to curtail current expenditure. The chief minister even banned the use of sugar in tea in all public offices as a step towards austerity.

However, the government itself lavishly spent money from the public exchequer for their publicity campaigns, he added.

Punjab government spokesperson Muhammad Aslam Dogar said the functions were arranged because foreigners and officials of donor agencies attended it. They were not lavish functions, he claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2011.

COMMENTS (7)

ujala | 13 years ago | Reply i dont understand why they had to open these schools when we already have thousands of government schools waiting to be looked upon. the amount of money which they are spending on these ceremonies , if they had spent on those existing govt schools, it had done a lot difference. mr shehbaz sharif should go and see how little angels of our country are treated thr by inadequately trained teachers and how they sit under hot and burning sun in mid june because they dont have rooms. why these existing schools not be made danish schools???

Shazada Zahid Malik Loan | 13 years ago | Reply I think it is about time we the overseas Pakistanis raised our voice over the issues of bad government, the scarce money being spent and the accountability. We pay taxes in Pakistan and we send money to Pakistan but we lack the voice in terms of the accoun tability. InshAllah we are putting together mechanisms in place for accountability. The Pakistani politicians are a big joke.

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qudrat ullah | 13 years ago | Reply Our media has adopted an impish attitude by behaving like an ‘agent-provocateur’ while ignoring the issues like bigotry behavior of media barons’ cabal who have no regard for implementation of wage board awards. This is a fit example how our nascent media perceives government actions with its jaundiced eyes. Politically elected governments have every right to project their performance in the public through such shows which motivate the donors to invest in human development. I believe that Punjab government deserves kudos for initiating a project exclusively for the poor. The media should fully support this initiative as it’s a program which is aimed at giving the poor strata a tool to excel in life through quality education. And, it should also stop ignoring media barons’ reluctance towards implementing media laws which ensure journalists’ welfare.

Aftab Kenneth Wilson | 13 years ago | Reply I hope they know the meaning of "Danish" because their present leadership is totally empty with this stuff. We all know that "Empty vessels make more sound".

Ali | 13 years ago | Reply I shudder to think howthe PML-N are going to run the Pakistani economy after looking at their performance in Punjab.

Sumair | 13 years ago | Reply lol on us. We pay taxes for these stuff. keep it up

IZ | 13 years ago | Reply "They were not lavish functions, he claimed." . If you are spending 12 million rupees than at the very least the functions should be lavish! If they weren't lavish what was all that money spent on?

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