- 24-member steering committee to monitor the release of funds.
- The committee includes senators from PML-N, PPP, PTI, JUI-F.
- It can also cancel or stop the release of funds for any scheme.
ISLAMABAD: The current caretaker government led by Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakkar is set to release Rs 29 billion in development funds for the first time in the country’s history. news Reported on Wednesday.
Official sources said the federal cabinet has also constituted a 24-member steering committee headed by acting communications minister Shahid Ashraf Tarar to monitor and supervise the release of funds.
The committee, which includes four caretaker ministers, includes senators belonging to Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F), Pakistan Peoples Party Also included. (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP), National Party (NP), Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) and senior officials of the concerned ministries and divisions.
The previous Shehbaz Sharif-led government had reserved Rs 90 billion for the development fund for the financial year 2023-2024, of which Rs 61 billion was released in four months.
Sources said the PPP and other parties have raised the issue of failure to release the remaining development funds.
Chaired by the acting Communications Minister, the steering committee also includes federal ministers Sarfaraz Bugti, Dr. Nadeem Jan, Madad Ali Sindhi; Senator Danesh Kumar (BAP), Palwasha Khan (PPP), Irfan Siddiqui (PML-N), Mohsin Aziz (PTI), Kamran Mortaza (JUI-F), Syed Faisal Sabswari (MQM-P), Tahir Bajinjo (NP), Arbab Umar Farooq (ANP), Sardar Muhammad Shafiq Tareen (PKMAP) and federal secretaries of finance, planning and development, petroleum, power, housing and development.
The steering committee also includes the chairman of Punjab Planning and Development Board and additional secretaries of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh Development. It will also have the power to cancel or stop the release of development funds for any scheme.
When acting Information and Broadcasting Minister Murtaza Solangi was contacted to comment on the formation of the steering committee, he said that he was not aware of it.
He said in one line, “I have no knowledge of this.”
