PHOTO: REUTERS
“The decision of withdrawing the funds was taken without informing the Balochistan government, provincial cabinet and the Balochistan Assembly. It is incompetence of the present rulers to give back instead of receiving money from the federal government,” said leaders of the BNP while addressing a press conference after a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee.
They added that Balochistan needs a functional regime which can take the province towards prosperity, affirming that only good governance can put Balochistan on the path to development, to the level of other provinces.
They said a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee was held in which 3 different issues were discussed. In the meeting, the matter of Balochistan Police’s outstanding dues amounting to Rs350 million it owes to various departments including PTCL, Sui Southern Gas Company, National Bank, Radio Pakistan, Pakistan Television and others was discussed.
Chairman and member of PAC said that the federal government approved the Half Pay Allowance in 2006 to employees of the federal departments in Balochistan. Though the allowance was paid by the government in the Centre for first two years, the money has been paid by the provincial government from then on. They said that the allowance of these federal employees should be discontinued immediately, or the federal government should give this money to their employees themselves.
Langove said that the former MNAs and bureaucracy are due to pay hundreds of millions of rupees in terms of utilisation of their privileges. Secretary S&GD has also been directed to ensure that payments are made immediately and submit the report at the next PAC meeting, he added.
Sanaullah Baloch said that the provincial government has made more than 900 transfer and posting orders in a year and a half, but often placed junior officers on senior posts, maintaining that hundreds of officers benefitted from the decision.
He alleged that the Balochistan government has returned 43 per cent development budget to the federal government.
“It is a hard task to get money from Islamabad, but it is easy to give it back. Opposition parties and the assembly were not informed about the decision as well.”
“In a province like Balochistan, where two and a half thousand schools are closed, more than one thousand BHOs lack medicine and staff, new schools are not built and colleges could not be given university status, about 50% of development budget is sent back to the federal government,”Baloch said.
“We will try to bring the issue of Reko Diq to the next PAC meeting,” said the BNP leader, adding that the government has failed and no development work has been done in a year and a half.
Prior to the meeting, it was stated that the departments owed Rs3 crore but it was discovered in the huddle that it was only a matter of 2009 and 2010, and now the amount has exceeded to Rs35 crore.
Earlier, Langove asked the provincial government to pay for the piece of land it acquired in Gwadar as he called for making all transactions transparent.
“The government must promptly pay for the land it has acquired from public in Gwadar for otherwise we will take strong action,” Langove said while addressing a meeting attended by officials of the Board of Revenue and deputy commissioner (DCs).
Provincial lawmakers – Sanaullah Baloch and Fazal Agha – and accountant general were also present.
He said corruption cannot be eliminated from the province without ensuring transparency.
“Everyone has to work sincerely to bring about a real change in the province, which has been greatly affected by corruption. We want to see prosperity in the province. If anyone thinks that they can continue corrupt practices, then they are mistaken. We will not allow anyone to get away with corruption.”
He said all the officers can contribute to the development and prosperity of the province. “People will not come here to improve our situation; we have to make things better ourselves,” he said
“What happened in 2015-16 will not be allowed to be repeated. We will not talk about what has happened in the past but will not let it happen now. We have to take care of future generations.”
He said time and circumstance demand that all strive for the rights of the people together. Langove said a comprehensive debate on the audit parameters of the Board of Revenue has been completed.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 12th, 2019.
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