LAHORE: Spending on transport and entertainment at the Chief Minister’s (CM’s) Secretariat far exceeded budget allocations for 2008-09, despite official promises to cut unnecessary expenditure, opposition MPA Moonis Elahi said in the Punjab Assembly on Monday.
When they came to power, members of the PML-N-led government accused their predecessors of overspending on cars and paraded these vehicles before the media, said Moonis, whose father Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi headed the previous administration.
But the same government budgeted Rs 3.5 million for transport at the CM’s Secretariat and spent Rs 200 million; budgeted Rs 5 million for helicopters and planes, but spent Rs 25 million; and budgeted Rs 35 million for gifts and entertainment, but spent Rs 100 million, he said.
Moonis said the government had budgeted Rs 120 million for the CM’s Secretariat but spent Rs 270 million. “If they can’t control the budget for the CM’s Secretariat, how can they control the budget for the entire province?” he asked.
The opposition MPA also criticised the Sasti Roti scheme, saying it made far more economic sense to subsidise wheat. He named a shop in Gawalmandi, home constituency of the Sharif brother, that was selling roti for Rs 3 each. He also slammed the government’s record on education, saying differences with district governments meant Rs 11 billion for education remained unspent in the 2008-09 budget, and the next budget contained Rs 10 billion less for education. staff report
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