KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to unfreeze the funds for development schemes.
PPP senior leader Senator Taj Haider wrote a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and demanded to take back its decision to ban the disbursement of funds for the development schemes ahead of elections.
The political party criticised the freezing of funds for the development schemes aiming to provide relief and welfare to the masses.
“Orders of the Election Commission of Pakistan to freeze Development Funds in the Province of Sindh, including those allocated in the provincial budget for providing flood resistant houses to families devastated in last year’s floods and for solar panels to provide relief to the poorest of the families from hours of load-shedding and exorbitant electricity bills are shocking to say the least,” the letter states.
It stated that the ECP took the surprise decision to freeze the funds for a solar panel scheme amid worst loadshedding and inflated electricity bills issues.
“Inmates of 200, 000 houses that have remained in darkness for generations have been provided solar panels so that they too can benefit from one of the so many bounties of Allah which none of us can deny. The budgeted target is to put solar panels on 2.1 million houses. This is the direction in which the whole country should be going. Shall we reverse this direction and push our people back into centuries old darkness? Certainly not Sir. The most marginalized of our people, living in the remotest and most backward areas of our country deserve electricity as a fundamental right and this is what the Pakistan People’s Party is endeavouring to ensure,” it reads.
Senator Taj Haider was of the view that the caretaker set-up could not seize the development schemes under the Election Act. He added that it was an unusual move to see ECP stopping the fund disbursements instead of a caretaker set-up.
The PPP leader stated that the ECP took an unconstitutional step by seizing the development funds.
He added that 50,000 out of 2 million houses had been constructed by the government for the flood-affected families in the past three months but the owners were not being allowed to enter their houses.
Senator Haider complained about facing challenges in the shape of mass protests against the inflated electricity bills and the closure of business centres due to the wrong policies.
The politician detailed that under a development scheme, the Sindh government had planned to install solar panels in 2.1 million houses belonging to the flood affectees but the authorities were unable to continue the project due to freezing of the funds.
Senator Haider urged the election commission to take back its decision on humanitarian grounds.
“May I most respectfully request you to kindly order that all development funds for ongoing development schemes may be immediately unfreezed,” Taj Haider concludes in the letter.
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