Federal ministries are spending millions of rupees, out of their development budgets, on purchase of furniture and other fixtures for the offices of newly inducted cabinet ministers affiliated with Pakistan Muslim League (Q) in violation of the government's declared austerity drive.
Sources in the office of Auditor General of Pakistan told this correspondent that the Minister for Finance has urged the ministries to drastically reduce their non-development expenditure which would include ban on unnecessary purchases of any new furniture in their offices. It is learnt that many ministries are violating this clear and unambiguous directive.
The ministries have placed orders for purchase of lavish items to renovate their offices. Newly elected cabinet ministers of PML (Q) have issued directives to staff to change the outlook of their offices by utilising the development funds. Minister for Housing and Works Faisal Saleh Hayat tops this list with sources alleging that Rs 8 million released by the Ministry of Finance would be spent on renovation work of his office as per his instructions. Faisal was the person credited with making public the irregularities of the controversial rental power projects.
Another example is the office of State Minister for Privatisation Commission, Asif Tauseef who has also reportedly ordered massive renovation, including a new false ceiling, wooden floor, new furniture, massive LCD, new split air-conditioner. Sources said the expenditure would be met through development budget of the ministry. Since Pakistan People's Party government took power, privatisation commission has yet to make a single transaction.
An official of ministry of finance said that with the induction of new ministers belonging to MQM in the cabinet there would increase in non-development expenditure manifold. Ministries already facing massive cut on development side would face additional financial burden in case furniture is purchased for the new ministers. The official stated that if each minister spends Rs 8 million on office renovation, non-development expenditure would swell to approximately Rs 160 million.
In federal 2010-11 budget, opposition members, including Pakistan Muslim League (Q), had raised objections over the government's demands for purchase and maintenance of vehicles, expenses on petroleum, funds for purchasing furniture for ministers and other non-development expenditure.
When contacted, Director General Federal Audit stated that the government had announced in federal budget that non-development budget would be minimised and placed a complete ban on purchase of furniture and other fixtures. "The audit will assess whether the purchase of furniture and fixtures was made by relaxing the rules or it was purchased during the same period the ban was slapped", he said. He further said that it was constantly brought to the notice of Public Accounts Committee of National Assembly that non-development expenditure of ministries rises when any new ministers/officers are inducted.
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