During the last budget session of the Sindh Assembly, many people were shocked to discover the mention of massive development funds in the budget books, which were assigned to different projects. However, the money was never utilised for its actual purpose and the departments concerned could not come up with an explanation.
In some cases, schemes with proper funding were included in the budget books, but they did not exist in reality. Speaking with The Express Tribune, officials working for the Sindh government, who are familiar with the matter, said different ghost schemes with proper funding have been added to the annual development plan, allegedly to peculate money.
“You can take the example of the post-flood schemes that the provincial government had anticipated in 2017 and allocated Rs2.3 billion for the purpose,” one of the officers said. “Even though the expected floods did not hit the province, the allocated funds were utilised, with details of the incurred expenditure in the budget books.”
Official documents available with The Express Tribune revealed that the irrigation department devised scheme 954 for “emergent works in anticipation of flood and rain emergency” in 2017. The floods were anticipated in 2017, the scheme was approved in 2018, and funds were utilised in 2019 and 2020 - two years after the “expected” calamity.
When approached for a comment, irrigation department officials were unaware of the issue.
“I have recently taken over the charge of the department. I don’t know how the scheme was included in the budget,” Irrigation Secretary Rafique Ahmed Buriro, who also happens to be the principal accounting officer of his department, stated.
When asked about the 2017 floods in Sindh, which never happened, he said he does not know about it.
“I have assumed the charge two months ago. I will have to dig out the matter,” Buriro said.
Sindh witnessed two consecutive floods in 2010 and 2011 which caused significant devastation. Since then, there have been no floods in the province.
An official working for the irrigation department, who requested not to be named, said the allocated funds have been utilised for rain emergency.
“There was a forecast for heavy rains in 2017, so the government has shown the expenditure based on the strengthening of embankments of the Indus River,” he said, insisting that the river experiences small or medium floods every year.
Another official from the department contradicted the statement and said the funds were diverted for urban flooding. Despite many attempts, no official in the irrigation department could come up with a justification or speak on the record about the scheme and the unexplained utilisation of funds.
Speaking on the issue, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) parliamentary leader Barrister Hasnain Mirza said he also pointed out the misappropriation of funds during his budget speech at the Sindh Assembly.
“I asked Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ministers present at the session and Sindh chief minister to justify how Rs2.1 billion were spent on floods which never hit Sindh,” he said, adding that nobody from the government responded to the question. “They have embezzled a chuck from the budget,” he remarked.
Another unexplained use of funds emerged about the establishment of a cadet college in Badin. The scheme was approved in 2017 but the government has still not acquired land for the purpose. However, budget documents show that Rs25 million were spent on the project. Sindh education minister could not be reached, while deputy commissioner Badin, Hafeez Sial, refused to comment.
Sindh Assembly’s opposition leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi alleged that trillions of rupees have been misappropriated by Sindh government departments in last few years.
“Government is bound to present every quarter’s expenditure report in the Assembly. We have been asking the government for the past six months to share the details, but all in vain,” he said, adding that many ghost schemes are running in the budget papers to hide embezzlement of funds.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 8th, 2020.
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