A spokesman for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Secretariat has dispelled the impression of increase in the expenditure of the secretariat and said that the provincial government has curtailed the expenses. Clarifying the factual position a spokesman of the CM Secretariat said that an amount of Rs 0.5 million only was incurred on buying gifts for foreign dignitaries and guests during the fiscal year 2014-15, and the figure of 40 million rupees as reported by the paper on this account was totally unfounded.
About expenditures of the CM House during the current fiscal, the spokesman explained that every year Finance Department reflects a token amount of Rs 1000/- under the head of "purchase of machinery and equipment and furniture and fixture", and then later on departments request for additional grants on case to case basis. Following the same mechanism the CM Secretariat had demanded additional grant of only six million rupees under the said head and the reported additional spending of 60 million rupees was not correct, added the spokesman.
Regarding allocation of Rs 324 million for CM House for the next fiscal year, the spokesman informed that the amount was not only meant for the CM's residence, but it also covers the pay and allowances of the employees of the CM Secretariat, CM House, Peshawar, and KP Houses in Islamabad and Nathiagali. Moreover the Finance Department makes 10% increase every year in operating charges.
The spokesman also denied the information about presence of 71 high ranking officers in the CM Secretariat and informed that there were only 35 officers of BS-17 and above working in the CM Secretariat. Moreover, he termed the information totally wrong that employees of the CM Secretariat were receiving 35 different allowances. He categorically stated that no additional allowances including the reported residential allowance were being paid to the employees except what the Civil Secretariat Staff was getting. He added that the annual honoraria are paid to the CM Secretariat staff on the pattern of P&D, Finance and other concerned secretariat departments.
Similarly, the spokesman contradicted the report that the CM Secretariat had spent Rs 26 million on gas and electricity and clarified that an amount of only 3.8 million rupees was spent against total allocation of Rs 24.4 million under these heads thus saved a considerable amount of 20.6 million rupees during the current fiscal. The spokesman told that no expenditure on registration of vehicles was made in current closing fiscal explaining that finance department had mistakenly released an amount of 3.65 million which had been surrendered by the CM Secretariat.