GDA lawmaker refuses to donate salary to PM Fund

Demands her salary be deposited in Al-Khidmat and JDC accounts to help flood victims

ISLAMABAD:

Grand Democratic Alliance’s (GDA) Member National Assembly (MNA) Saira Bano has expressed her reservations over the Prime Minister’s Flood Relief Fund and refused to voluntarily deposit her salary in it.

Bano demanded that her salary be equally deposited in Al-Khidmat and JDC accounts to help the flood affectees.

In a letter to the National Assembly speaker, the female MNA stated that her salary could not be deducted without her consent. She said the country faced severe crisis in the form of floods, adding that the victims needed relief goods and assistance on emergency basis.

Expressing her reservations, she noted that several organisations had been collecting funds for the flood affectees but only time would tell how “transparently and equally” the money was distributed.

In the letter, the MNA objected that their one month salary had been deducted without taking them into confidence. “The parliamentary parties were not consulted over the Fund which was established in haste. For this reason, its transparency and monitoring is being questioned.”

Bano said it was the prerogative of every MNA to donate fund to the organisation of their choice.

“My salary should be equally distributed among Al-Khidmat Foundation and JDC and a receipt of it should be given to me.”