Billions being spent on ‘bogus schemes’: Minister

Jaffar Mandokhel accuses planning dept of blocking public interest schemes.

QUETTA:

Balochistan Planning and Development Department has inappropriately allocated well over a billion rupees for bogus schemes or religious seminaries, Jaffar Mandokhel, a provincial lawmaker, has said in a petition filed in the Balochistan High Court.

According to the petition, the department approved Rs260 million for the construction of madrassahs and an additional Rs250 million for construction of prayer areas and places of worship.

It said that as much as Rs70 million was approved for the establishment of an Islamic library and research centre, Rs140 million for various schemes in Balochistan, Rs30 million for building a community hall and Rs510.9 million for the completion of incomplete schemes in “an illegal manner”.

Mandokhel, who is also a former provincial finance minister, said that the government funds were released without adopting due process of law, adding that projects “necessary and beneficial for the public at large have been stopped or abandoned (citing) non-availability of funds”.

Citing the example of Shadi Kaur dam, a huge water storage facility in the province’s water-starved coastal region, he said that the project could not be completed because only Rs5.5 million were released, resulting in critical damage to the dam during the floods.

The PML-Q lawmaker said that he had introduced various public welfare schemes for Zhob district, but the projects had been inordinately delayed by the planning and development department by more than three months because of “illegal objections” and no effective order has been passed.

Highlighting the chief minister’s directive about finishing the projects by June this year, he said that the department had released only “five per cent to 15 per cent” of the required funds, adding that the remaining amount was still stuck, resulting in slow progress on the projects.

He said that the cost of these projects had escalated because of inflation, causing a “direct loss to the government exchequer” and public at large had been “illegally” deprived of the schemes’ benefits.

Reminding the authorities concerned that the planning and development department was “supposed to release funds for flood-affected areas” after the Federal Flood Commission released Rs3 billion, the petition said that funds were released in districts which were “not affected by the flood” at all, completely ignoring Zhob district which was the worst-affected area. Focusing on various ongoing schemes in Zhob, he said that work is progressing at a faster pace in other districts such as Sherani, Musa Khel and Qilla Saifullah, which were not even near the Zhob district.

This, he said, was a “clear manipulation of schemes, which resulted in depriving the genuine population of their legitimate rights”.

Highlighting the transfer of various junior employees from other departments on deputation to the planning and development department, he said that lower grade employees (BPS-15) were given charge of higher posts ranging between BPS-17 to -19.

Mentioning the appointment of one BPS-17 employee on a BPS-19 post, he said that the appointment was made “solely on political consideration, appointed just to raise objection on projects forwarded by provincial lawmakers and other political personalities, which providing legal protection to fake or non-existent schemes”.

He said the chief secretary had already been briefed.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2011.