Can you think my editors have played down this story and they even did not put it on e-paper of The News: PTI seemingly abandoned 50 pc cut promise CM secretariat spends Rs4.1 m on entertainment, gifts in two months Riaz Khan Daudzai PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf led coalition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has apparently abandoned a key election pledge to cut non-developmental government expenditures by 50 percent as the chief minister’s secretariat has spent Rs4.1 million only on entertainment and gifts during the last two months while it also gave Rs 8.5 million as honorarium to its employees. An officer in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, who requested not to be named and provided all the relevant documents to The News, said there is no cut of any sort on staff and hence no decrease in salary expenditures in the secretariat has taken place. Now, four months after taking office, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak instead of decreasing staff in his secretariat has even brought some confidantes from other departments such as provincial assembly, etc (names and designations withheld), he added. Referring to the documents also available with The News, he said there was no control over other expenses in all heads and instead of cut in the electricity bill of chief minister secretariat alone is equal to the electricity bill of the entire civil secretariat which is only Rs 5 million. Same is the ration in petroleum products (POL) head, including Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), diesel and repair of vehicles, he said. He further said there is no rationale for the payment of 8.5 million as honorarium to the employees of the chief minister’s secretariat as they were not doing any extraordinary duties. It is sufficient to show difference in the real policies and election promises of the PTI, the official said. The official said Rs 4.1 million had been spent on entertainment in the chief minister’s secretariat and the usual huge entertainments, POL and repair of transport bills are spent through the Administration Department which maintains the transport pool and also cater for the cabinet meetings etc. The expenditures of ministers, advisers, special assistants, etc is in addition to all this, which continued rising and the PTI-led coalition has also not decreased it. The documents suggests that the chief minister’s secretariat was allocated the budget grant of Rs 281.59 million (Rs 281,592,000) which it was supposed to spend during the current financial year, while after the 50 percent cut as promised by PTI chief Imran Khan, it was required to spent Rs 23.4 million (Rs 23,466,000) in the last two months (July and August), but the chief minister’s secretariat has spent Rs 44.38 million (RS44,389,148) which shows an excess expenditures of Rs 20.92 million (Rs 20,923,148) that too in just two months. The chef minister secretariat has been given the budget grant of Rs 24.95 million (Rs24,952,310) for the payment of basic pay of staff for the financial year and after the promised 50 percent cut it was required to spend Rs 2.07 million (Rs2,079,359) for the purpose during the last two months, but it spent Rs 3.75 million (Rs3,757,500) showing an excess expenditures of Rs 1.67 million (Rs 1,678,141) in the period. Similarly, The chief minister got the power to approve the award of Rs 7.62 million (Rs7,620,000) as honoraria to the staff of his secretariat and after promised 50 percent cut he was supposed to spend Rs 0.635 million (Rs635,000), but he approved Rs 8.5 million (Rs8,524,680) as honoraria to the staff of the chief minister’s secretariat in the last two months that is R7.88 million (Rs7,889,680) excess expenditures in the head. The chief minister’s secretariat also got the budget grant of Rs 18 million (Rs18,000,000) for POL, planes, helicopters and staff cars charges and after the 50 percent cut it should have consumed Rs 1.5 million (1,500,000) in the last two months while its actual expenditures in the head stood at Rs 3.0 million (Rs3,097,879) recording an excess expenditure of Rs 1.59 million (Rs1,597,879); let alone any decrease in the expenditures in POL and helicopter charges. The documents further reveal that the chief minister’s secretariat received Rs 30 million (Rs 30,000,000) as discretionary grant of which it was supposed to spend just Rs 2.5 million (2,500,000) after 50 percent cut, but in the last two months its spending of discretionary grants stood at Rs 2.8 million (Rs 2,800,000) and like all other heads no decrease has been observed in the award of discretionary grants which showed that the PTI government is backtracking its election pledge of 50 percent cut in all non-developmental expenditures in the province. However, spokesman for Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Sheraz Paracha did not agree with the figures put in the documents and said that the PTI government had cut its expenditures in chief minister secretariat from Rs 280 million to Rs160 million. He said the total budget grant of Rs 280 also included the Rs120 million salaries which could not be cut by any means. Sheraz Paracha added that theirs was even more cut than 50 percent, if it was taken in comparison to the expenditures of the chief minister secretariat during the previous government. “Like Rs 2.13 million in January and Rs2.03 in February 2013 was spent on POL, but we spent Rs1.0 million (Rs 1001452) in July and only Rs0.9 million (Rs 974741) as POL charges in September,” he said. The chief minister’s spokesman maintained that during the previous government the chief minister secretariat had spent Rs 5.4 million (Rs5412004) on entertainment in January, Rs 3.6 million (Rs3610780) in February and Rs 5.2 million (Rs 5274188) again in March. But the chief minister’s secretariat during the PTI-led coalition government has spent Rs 1.8 million (Rs1887273) in July and Rs 2.0 million (Rs 2092331) in August on entertainment which reflects more than 50 percent cut on the head in comparison to the expenses on entertainment by the previous government in the chief minister secretariat, Sheraz Paracha argued.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 08:48:44 +0000
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