MoF failed to release Rs 1.03 billion to Postal services; National Assembly body told

Ministry of Finance (MoF) has failed to release funds amounting Rs 1.03 billion for Pakistan Postal Services due to which many projects have been held.
State Minister for Postal Services, Abdul Raziq on Saturday told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Postal Services that the government has allocated Rs 1.03 billion in PSDP 2009-10 for 3-year programme for construction of new buildings, renovation of post offices, computerised system and new software procurement and database architecture.
"We cannot achieve these targets because the Finance Ministry is creating many hurdles in release of funds," he claimed. The Minister said that the government also made commitment to give Rs 2.00 commission per utility bill to the employees of Pakistan Postal Services (PPS) but it did not fulfil the commitment so far. He said that the PPS has earned Rs 400 million last year but the Finance Ministry did not release the amount of commission so far for the employees of the department.
"The Finance Ministry would discourage the employees if it did not release the amount of Commission, which it had promised," he said. The Minister said that the Ministry of Postal Services has no authority to release the amount of commission and revenue generation.
He said that the PPS has earned a total of Rs 6 billion in 2007, Rs 7.3 billion in 2008 and Rs 8-billion revenue in 2009. He said that PPS has set Rs 9.3 billion target of revenue in 2010. The Minister said that Rs 130 billion revenue and commission has been deposited in the bank.
During the briefing to the Committee, it was told that a total of Rs 29.84 million was allocated for 2009-10 for reconstruction of post office buildings for northern circle Rawalpindi and Rs 12 million for renovation of the buildings. Similarly, total of Rs 7.20 million has been allocated for reconstruction of post office buildings and Rs 5.8 million for renovation of the buildings for central circle Lahore.
The Committee was also told that Rs 18 million has been earmarked for reconstruction of post office buildings and Rs 16.9 million for renovation for Southern circle Multan office. The committee was also informed that there is also proposal to open as many as 278 post offices in Punjab for which 1193 posts from B-1 to B-20 will be created in Punjab. Under the programme, as many as 17 post offices in Rawalpindi division, 56 in central Lahore and 205 in southern Multan will be opened.