Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
Law makers in Senate Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) on Tuesday expressed their displeasure regarding discrepancy in data presented by the Accountant General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and figures submitted by the Department of Finance, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over approved and executed schemes via Accelerated Implementation Program (AIP) and ADP in merged districts of tribal areas.
The committee held its meeting in parliament house while Senator Hilal-ur-Rehman was on chair.
Others who attended the meeting were Senator Anwar Lal Dean, Senator Bahramand Khan Tangi, Senator Danesh Kumar, Senator Dost Muhammad Khan, Senator Gurdeep Singh, Senator Hidyat Ullah, Senator Haji Hidayat Ullah Khan, Senator Shamim Afridi and senior officers of the Ministry Sates and Frontier Regions, Department of Finance Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Accountant General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Chairman Committee, while reviewing the submitted details pointed towards financial bungling.
Secretary SAFRON recommended that the two departments must run a joint review of the numbers after which details could be re-submitted to the Committee for review.
It was revealed that details of eight districts had been reviewed and submitted to the Committee; results of which varied extensively showing a discrepancy of Rs23 billion in 2018-19 and Rs8 billion in 2020.
Chairman Committee, Senator Hilal-ur-Rehman was of the view that as feared earlier, merged areas of earst-while, FATA remained a non-priority for both the Federal Government and the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He directed that completely reviewed, with proper break-up of released and utilized funds be submitted to the committee in the next meeting.
Discussing financial progress of projects, it was revealed that the Insaf Rozgar Scheme had let out Rs10,000 billion to local banks on a 4 percent mark-up; which were now responsible of criteria setting of beneficiaries and disbursement of funds.
