PESHAWAR: Economist and Omar Asghar Khan Foundation executive director Rashida Dohad on Wednesday voiced concern about disparity in the distribution of development funds by the provincial government, especially disregard for backward districts and said that approach would increase the sense of deprivation among underprivileged regions.

Ms Dohad told reporters at the Peshawar Press Club that the unequal distribution of development funds to districts in KP continued as the government had allocated a huge chunk of funding for the chief minister’s constituency ignoring backwards areas like Kohistan and Battagram.

She said the PTI government had prioritised the development of transport sector by allocating a hefty amount of Rs45.56 billion, which was 21.91 per cent of the total provincial budget for the current fiscal, and ironically, around 98 per cent of that money i.e. Rs44.60 billion would be spent on the start of the bus rapid transit system in Peshawar.

The economist said the government had adopted voter-friendly public spending on roads infrastructure, housing, transport, buildings and urban development for which it had allocated 37.2 per cent of its total budget i.e. Rs77.37 billion in the current financial year.

She added that the funding was nearly double than Rs30.28 billion, showing allocation of 18.81 per cent of the total budget in the current fiscal.

Ms Dohad said compared to the infrastructure, low priority was given to health as its allocation was reduced from Rs17.48 billion (10.86) per cent in FY 2016-17 to Rs16.47 billion in the fiscal year.

She added that it was lower than the average allocation of 8.48 per cent during the last five financial years.

The economist said the funds for local governments had also failed to meet the threshold stipulated by the Local government Act 2013 according to which around 30 per cent of the development funds were to be allocated in the provincial Annual Development Programme. She said in 2017-18, the allocation for local government was Rs32.5 billion, which was nearly 26 per cent of the total development outlay.

“If the vertical transfer under the district ADP is considered, then the funds for local government have come down to Rs28 billion, which is 22.22 per cent of the total development budget,” she said.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2017