Bearing the brunt: Sindh government suspends development funds

The CM has advised officials to prioritise on employees’ salaries in lieu of development schemes.

KARACHI: In view of the severe financial crunch being faced by the Sindh government it, has decided to block the release of funds for development projects until the next budget.

The decision to withhold the funds was taken following recommendations by top government officials who lodged a complaint with the chief minister on Tuesday that they could barely manage the salaries of employees and the running expenditures of their respective departments.

“Despite our repeated reminders, the federal government is not releasing our funds while the provincial tax collection is not optimal. In this situation, we can either focus on development schemes or pay our employees’ salaries,” the finance officials told the CM at a briefing at the Sindh Secretariat.

Sources privy to the developments told The Express Tribune that the CM asked the officials to give priority to the employees’ salaries over development schemes till the new budget was presented, which is expected three days after the federal budget.



“We have no funds in government accounts, even for salaries, so how can we manage the finances for development schemes,” said one of the additional secretaries, who attended the meeting, requesting anonymity.

The provincial government had estimated the total revenue expenditure for the financial year, 2012-13, at Rs315 billion.

This figure included the amount supposed to be spent on salaries, medical bills, fuel costs and other sundry expenses.

During the meeting, the CM was informed that out of the total amount of Rs161 billion proposed for development schemes, the provincial government had only been able to raise Rs75 billion in the last 11 months. Officials of the planning and development department said that only about 10 to 20 per cent work was completed on various development schemes given the financial constraints. Most plans were, however, lying idle for want of funds.

“There is a deficit of Rs86 billion between the allocated development budget and the amount released thus far,” said a senior official of the finance department adding that on the one hand, the government could not manage the funds for the existing schemes while on the other, they were pushing to allocate a record high budget which would even exceed the incumbent development portfolio.

“This is a political government and we have no other option but to obey their orders by showing record high allocations for development schemes in the budget books. It makes one wonder how the government will be able to manage these funds,” he asserted.



The provincial budget shows that the Sindh government had anticipated an estimated Rs382 billions in the form of current revenue receipt and federal transfers - the amount which the federal government has to pay from the divisible pool and royalty on natural resources, such as gas and oil. The majority of this amount has, however, not been released thus far.

CM orders probe into appointments

Sindh CM Syed Qaim Ali Shah has directed the secretary service to compile a report on the appointments in different departments made by the caretaker government so that the same could be reviewed.

He said this during a surprise visit to the Sindh Secretariat on Tuesday adding that the responsibility of the caretaker government was to facilitate the election commission and not to appoint people in various departments.

Shah also visited different sections of the New Sindh Secretariat to check on the presence of officers in the departments. He directed the Chief Secretary to ensure the punctuality of all the officers and staff and warned of dire consequences if there were any discrepancies.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2013.