Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar has contradicted a report carried by Business Recorder on Wednesday. That report had stated that kitchen in the Presidency is being renovated at a cost of 260 million rupees. Meanwhile, clarifying the spokesperson said that sometime back when the proposal was brought to his attention the President rejected it as too costly and directed that the project be revised and the expenditure brought down significantly.
Neither the revised proposal has been received in the Presidency nor has any work on the project been undertaken, Farhatullah Babar said. He said that the President disdains extravagance at public expense and is highly conscious of the expenses incurred whether on proposed renovation works or on the events held in the Presidency. That is why he has disallowed use of government funds on personal/party-related events held in the Presidency, he said. When sometime back a proposal was submitted to him to erect a bullet-proof glass wall around a certain area for security, the President directed that ordinary brick and mortar wall is erected instead of the bulletproof glass wall even though it blocked the view. Today, the security wall made of brick and mortar stands as testimony to the President's policy of austerity.
He said that the President distributes his salary among the low-paid employees of the Presidency and also defrays expenses on his food from his own pocket. The reports of spending 260 million rupees on renovating the kitchen are not in sync with the President's directions to avoid extravagance at public expense and are not correct, Farhatullah Babar said.
However this correspondent stands by his story that he filed on the basis of PC-1 entitled "Renovation and Upgradation of President House kitchen pantry area at Aiwan-e-Sadr Building, Islamabad" sent by Presidency to the Planning Commission of Pakistan in November, 2011. The PC-1 document made available to Business Recorder comprises 99 pages in which detail of expenditure in each and every head is given.