Not even Rs 21bn for election, but govt released development budget of Rs 66bn in March
In 9 months of current fiscal year, government has released Rs 316bn rupees in development budget, details of expenditure on development projects have made government's double standards clear
Ministry of Planning has released details of expenditure on federal development projects in country, which has made double standards of federal government clear.
On one hand, federal government is not ready to give 21 billion rupees to Election Commission for elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and is taking position that federal government does not have funds for elections.
Government, which is lamenting lack of funds for election in two provinces, spent 316 billion 61 crore rupees in first 9 months of the development budget, while 250 billion rupees were released for development works in the first 8 months of the same financial year. Similarly, funds of 66 billion rupees were generously released for development works in the month of March alone.
Only 45% of the total development budget could be spent in 9 months, 49 billion 85 crore rupees were spent for the development schemes of members of parliament in 9 months from July to March. Approval was given to release 90 billion rupees for schemes of members of parliament.
From July to March, federal ministries spent 206 billion rupees, 110 billion rupees were spent on road construction and electricity projects. 49 billion rupees were spent on water resources projects. Meanwhile, 471 billion 29 crore rupees were approved to be released, the size of the current fiscal year federal development budget was 714 billion rupees.
