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| May 10, 2006 | Wednesday | Rabi-us-Sani 11, 1427 |
Rs35.6 billion army pension paid from civilian budget
ISLAMABAD, May 9: Members of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) were informed on Tuesday that so far Rs35.6 billion had been paid as pension to retired officers and employees of armed forces in the current financial year from the civilian kitty.
Officials of the Ministry of Finance and the Auditor General of Pakistan Revenue said the decision to pay pension to retired military men from the civilian budget, instead of defence allocations, was made in 2000, and in 2005-6 Rs43 billion had been earmarked in the civil budget for the purpose. In 2000-01, they said, Rs28 billion pension was paid to military men from the civilian budget.
PAC chairman Malik Allahyar Khan presided over the meeting which was attended by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Qamaruz Zaman Kaira, Syed Qurban Ali Shah, Aasiya Azeem, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri and Rai Mansab Ali.
The issue of pension payment came under discussion when the PAC members were reviewing the 2000-01 audit report related to the Finance Division. The PAC was informed by the AGPR officials that the actual payments made under the head of pension were 131 per cent of the total allocation under this head.
Finance Secretary Tanveer Agha told the PAC that it was the responsibility of the accountant-general and the director-general of military accounts to assess the number of persons expected to retire and the finance ministry had no role in it.
He said that 44,900 employees were expected to retire in the year under review, but actually 48,464 persons got retirement or attained superannuating age due to which the expenditure under the head swelled. He said that it was 2.8 per cent increase on the civilian side and 7.69 per cent on the defence side.
NON-UTILISATION OF FUNDS: The PAC members expressed concern over non-utilisation of huge amounts allocated for development and asked the finance secretary to work out a strategy for maximum utilisation of funds.
MNA Aasiya Azeem said that this year too a large chunk of development funds allocated under Khushhal Pakistan Programme was lying unspent with the ministry.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that over 50 per cent of the development funds had not been utilised.
TRADE DEFICIT: Syed Qurban Ali Shah of the PPP said the trade deficit this year was expected to reach Rs10 billion. He said the State Bank’s record showed that the bank incurred Rs25 billion loss due to purchase of dollars from open market in the past four years, causing inflation.
The secretary expressed the hope that this year the ministry would not seek SBP’s intervention. He said there were several means to meet the trade deficit and it would be shared through foreign direct investment and privatisation proceeds.
OIL PRICES: Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan of the PML-N asked the finance secretary how the government was claiming to have paid Rs68 billion subsidy on petroleum products. He said that the government was not spending a single penny from its pocket and, therefore, it could not claim that it had been paying subsidy. Mr Nisar said that bureaucrats should present a true picture before the nation and they should not become a tool in the hands of politicians.
The secretary said he was not an expert in energy pricing mechanism and this job was being performed by the ministry of petroleum and natural resources.
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