The government has forwarded around one hundred sanction letters to the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR) for the release of Rs 5 billion under People''s Works Programme - discretionary fund of Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, it was learnt. The AGPR received these letters from the Cabinet Division for the release of funds under PWP-I and II for different development schemes.
The expenditure under Prime Minister''s discretionary fund has crossed Rs 42 billion mark for the current fiscal year against a total budgetary allocation of Rs 25 billion. Sources said the funds were being managed by obtaining supplementary a grant vide schedule dated 26-02-2013 upon which the AGPR drew the attention of Finance Ministry about the Election Commission of Pakistan''s notification.
The AGPR has reportedly asked the Finance Ministry to seek clearance from the ECP for the release of funds. A copy of the letter made available to Business Recorder stated that "the commission has considered the repeated concern of the people as expressed and voiced in the national press that money allocated to various important development projects in the country is being diverted to the discretionary fund of the Prime Minister of Pakistan for its utilisation in the development of his constituency, is nothing short of yet another facet of pre-poll-rigging which if not checked and brought to an immediate end is likely to influence the electoral process adversely and thus send a extremely wrong message to the public at large, making the election tainted and failing short of the constitutional provisions contained in Article 218 (3) of the Constitution." "And as such restrictions have been imposed on diversion of funds," the letter added.
The AGPR further stated that in view of the above quoted reference of the Election Commission, the release of funds at this stage was against the spirit of the above quoted notification. It will be appreciated if a clearance/clarification is sought at your end from the Election Commission of Pakistan to clear the above mentioned releases to avoid any future complication, according to letter.
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