July 04, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 29, 1429

KARACHI, July 3: Although the Sindh government has released more than Rs150 million to the Rangers to acquire some 120 new vehicles, the paramilitary force has not yet returned the nearly 100 vehicles of the provincial administration that it has been using for the last several years.

The provincial government, which asked the Rangers’ high-ups in the province to return the vehicles as they had received the funds to establish their own fleet, has not yet received a response from the paramilitary force, official sources said on Thursday.

“When the request was put before the provincial government, the home department, in a prompt response, asked the Rangers command to return the vehicles belonging to the Sindh government as soon as they got the funds from the provincial exchequer,” said a senior official.

“However, it has been more than a month since the funds have been released. But there has been no indication that our vehicles will be returned. Neither have we received any response from them (Rangers).”

He said the Sindh government wanted to generate funds through the auction of the vehicles being used by the Rangers, which could have supplemented the expenses it had borne additionally for the facilitation of the paramilitary force.

“If we get those vehicles back, they would definitely attract buyers and help in generating funds for the provincial exchequer, which entertained the Rangers’ demand,” added the official.

The paramilitary force has been assisting the police in Karachi since 1989 when a Pakistan People’s Party government in the centre had called in the Rangers and the Frontier Constabulary to curb rising political violence in the metropolis.

The annual budget allocation for the Sindh Rangers, which overshot by 55 per cent during the last fiscal, has been increased by 4.8 per cent for the financial year 2008-09, in the provincial budget last month.

The government allocated Rs410.1 million for the Sindh Rangers during the last financial year.

The revised estimates in the budget are shown as Rs637.9 million, thus indicating that the actual budget allocation overshot by Rs227.8 million.

However, the government, considering the budget overshoot of the last financial year, allocated Rs429.9 million for the year 2008-09, an increase of Rs19.8 million.

Under the head of employees-related expenses, an allocation of Rs226.5 million has been made in the budget for 2008-2009. For communications, Rs18.3 million has been allocated while Rs64.6 million has been earmarked for utilities.

However, the official said the funds released mainly for the paramilitary force to acquire new vehicles had nothing to do with the budget estimates as the latest facilitation was not a part of the annual expenditure assessment.

“These funds were released separately on a request from the Rangers high-ups,” he added. The budged estimation doesn’t have any such provision, as it counts the routine and operational expenses of the force, which has been assisting the police and other law enforcement agencies as an extra service contrary to their real job of border security.”

However, he was clueless about the timeline defined by the Rangers high-ups to return the 100 or so vehicles.

“The government has been waiting for almost two months but in vain. So ultimately, it would approach them (Rangers) again for the release of its vehicles,” he added.