CM’s Secretariat: Discretionary funds for 2013-14 almost finished

Rs23.2m of Rs25.5m budget spent.

LAHORE:

The Chief Minster’s Secretariat has already spent Rs23.2 million of a Rs25.5 million discretionary fund for 2013-14 from which the government can give compensation to victims of terrorism or accidents or to the poor, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The government has issued 157 cheques of various amounts from the fund this financial year, which is only five months old. More than 100 of these cheques, ranging from Rs20,000 to Rs1 million, have been distributed by the chief minister’s son, MNA Hamza Sharif, at various ceremonies. Some cheques were also issued by the district coordination officer.

The practice of allocating discretionary funds began in 1985 and has since become a tradition. The chief executive of the province can use the funds to compensate the families of victims of crime, terrorism and accidents, or to give to poor.

The Punjab government earmarked Rs25.5 million as discretionary funds for the chief minister for financial year 2013-14, and the money was put in the Special Drawing Account No 13 of the chief minister. Just Rs2.2 million of this amount remains for the next seven months of the fiscal year, which ends on June 30, 2014, meaning it its likely that a supplementary grant will be issued.



The government allocated Rs199.94 million for the current financial year to meet the current expenditures of the Chief Minister’s Secretariat. It allocated Rs259.83 million in 2012-13, though this was later revised to Rs419.86 million, according to the budget book Estimates of Charged Expenditure and Demands for Grants 2013-14.

In this year’s allocation, only Rs50,000 is for assistance to the families of government servants who die during service. But no discretionary funds are shown in the budget book. No official working at the CM’s Secretariat has died whilst in service since July 2013, an official said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2013.