ISLAMABAD: The deputy commissioner’s office exceeded its expenses by more than 82pc during the ongoing 2019-20 fiscal year because of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Azadi March and efforts to contain the coronavirus in the capital.

Budget documents show that the approved budget for the deputy commissioner’s office was Rs234.1 million for the whole year, but the department has spent Rs426.3m by the end of the fiscal year.

A significant increase was seen in operating expenses, by about 36pc to Rs103m, while the deputy commissioner’s office purchased plants, machinery and other assets for Rs9.1m and Rs158.4m was spent on grants and subsidies.

The authorities also relied on additional forces for security purposes in the capital, a policy that will continue in the future.

Dept spent Rs426.3m, compared to an allocation of Rs234.1m, likely due to the JUI-F Azadi March, coronavirus outbreak

A total of Rs11.9m was incurred on the deployment of forces in aid of the civil administration, for which Rs12.1m has been allocated for the 2020-21 fiscal year.

This includes Rs10.7m in operating expenses for the next fiscal year, which was also the sum allocated in this fiscal year.

The budget for the next fiscal year for the deputy commissioner’s office is Rs196.6m, while operating expenses have been slashed to Rs57m. Another Rs1m has been allocated for physical assets and Rs3.5m in terms of grants.

A senior officer in the administration said that operating expenditures can be enhanced if there are any unforeseen emergencies.

The officer said that there is also no need to purchase machinery and other fixtures every year, so budgets did not need to allocated under such heads for the next fiscal year.

The budget for the Islamabad police has been increased from Rs7.6m in the ongoing fiscal year to Rs8bn in the 2020-21 fiscal year, but the police’s operating expenses have been decreased significantly from Rs560.5m to Rs386.6m.

Despite the JUI-F march in October and November 2019, the police utilised only Rs455.6m out of its allocated Rs560.5m budget in the 2019-20 period.

Budget documents show that the police were understaffed and operating below sanctioned numbers. There were 315 officers in the police in 2019-20, which has fallen to 295 in 2020-21. Similarly, staff strength is down from 11,240 to 11,199.

Spending by the Islamabad police was also limited in the outgoing fiscal year for several reasons, including bureaucratic hurdles within the department, and out of the budgeted Rs1.3m for information technology development, the department spent just Rs500,000.

The IT budget for the upcoming fiscal year has been reduced further to Rs374,000.

The budget for the Counter Terrorism Department has seen a nominal increase from Rs651.1m in the outgoing fiscal year to Rs699.6m in the upcoming one.

Allocations for the Safe City Islamabad programme have been increased from Rs250m to Rs281.7m in the next fiscal year, while operating expenses have also been enhanced from Rs170.9m to Rs223.5m.

The allocation for the Civil Defence department has also been increased by more than Rs125pc to Rs15.4m in the upcoming budget.

There has been an almost 100pc increase in the allocations for the office for soil conservation, as the government appears to be making a long-term investment in this regard. The budget for soil conservation for 2020-21 is Rs28.6m, up from Rs14.6m in the outgoing fiscal year.

They key allocation has been made in the department’s building structure, with Rs5.5m under this head as opposed to Rs30,000 in the current fiscal year.

Its operating expenses have also been increased from Rs920,000 to Rs5.1m, while the budget for repairs and maintenance has been increased from Rs576,000 to Rs1.3m.

Despite the PTI government’s emphasis on promoting forestation across the country, the budgetary figures for Islamabad contradict this rhetoric.

The allocations for the forest and agriculture directorate has been cut by almost 70pc from Rs12.3m in the 2019-20 fiscal year to Rs3.8m. Its operating expenses have also been cut significantly from Rs1.6m to Rs461,000.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2020