Fawad writes letter to PM, questions availability of discretionary funds to CMs

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Friday wrote a letter to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and questioned availability of discretionary funds to chief ministers. In his letter, the science minister appealed from the prime minister to take notice of the important matter. He questioned the availability of discretionary funds to chief ministers, saying that the practice was a violation of the Article 140-A of the Constitution and is against public interest. Fawad further stated that Shehbaz Sharif had not given finance commission award to the districts in his tenure and unfortunately, the PTI government has not announce to give finance commission award to the districts till now. “The districts are not getting their parts due to violation of the Article 140-A of the constitution and the problems are being increased,” he added. Earlier, criticizing the Punjab government, Fawad Chaudhry informed PM Imran that the Punjab government had only used 77 billion out of the 350bn allocated for development purposes. Upon Fawad's pointing out the prime minister directed the provincial government to release the award. “The problem is of the distribution of funds, and not of Punjab government,” he said. He called for a change in the method, saying that funds below the provincial levels should be disbursed among the districts the same way the centre does it at the national level.