K-P Opp refuse to donate to flood relief

51 MPAs write to secretary, object to deductions

PESHAWAR:

Lawmakers of opposition parties in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly have objected to the deduction of money from their salaries for flood affectees.

They declined to donate for Chief Minister Flood Relief Fund.

Around 51 opposition lawmakers including members of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and two independent candidates including Mir Kamal and Ehtisham Javed Akbar have written a letter to the secretary finance in which they took the stance that they wanted to help the flood victims on their own instead of donating their salaries to the chief minister fund.

The letter is signed by 51 MPAs of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fzal (JUI-F), Awami National Party (ANP), Jamat-e-Islami (JI) and others.

Responding to the opposition decision, K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has said that it was unfortunate that some people were doing politics on the matter, adding that helping the flood victims was the collective responsibility of all and a top priority for his government.

“The provincial government provided relief goods to the flood victims in the first phase and now the government is trying its level best to rehabilitate these homeless people before the arrival of winters,” he said.

On the other hand, Finance Minister Taimur Jharga has hit out at the opposition parties and said that it was really unfortunate that the opposition MPAs had declined to help the flood victims.

“If they have any objection about the transparency process then we are willing to remove their suspicions. There is a transparent mechanism for collection and disbursement of funds for flood victims,” he said.

Jaghra went further and accused that the opposition was not serious in helping the flood affectees it was rather only interested in robbing the national exchequer.

It may be recalled that the provincial government had announced that all assembly members would donate one salary to the chief minister fund. It had also been decided that deduction would be made from the salaries of government employees.

“The decision clearly shows that opposition parties have no interest in the welfare of the general public and flood victims,” said Jaghara.

He shared that on the one side the federal government was trying its best to stop the release of funds to the K-P government and on the other the opposition parties have decided to create hurdle in the rehabilitation process of the people left homeless by floods.

“The PTI government in the province is the representative government of people of this province and it would use all its resources to help flood victims,” he added.

Floods inflicted widespread damages in Kohistan, Swat, Abbotabad, Dir Upper, Lakki Marwat and DI Khan districts of K-P and there are estimates that Rs125b damages have been incurred in these districts.

Floods not only washed away houses and standing crops but also damaged the infrastructure too.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2022.