ISLAMABAD, June 1: The chairman of the National Assembly standing committee on population welfare came hard on the federal minister for population welfare for inadequate utilisation of the ministry funds during the current financial year.

The committee, which met at the parliament house with Gul-i- Farkhanda in the chair, was also attended by the officials of the ministry led by Federal Minister Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain on Thursday.

However, the minister claimed that by the end of ongoing financial year the ministry will achieve 78 per cent utilisation of the budgetary allocations received under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

“According to my findings, until April 2006, the ministry’s total expenditures under different headings stood at 17.76 per cent, whereas the rest of 82.24 per cent funds will be utilised within two months,” Ms Farkhanda said.

“I am unable to understand how the ministry would be able to effectively use the unspent money within two months,” she added.

In response, the federal minister said the overall PSDP allocation for the population welfare programme was Rs4,473 million. During the mid-year review meeting, it was decided that Rs972 million might be surrendered due to the October 8 earthquake. The minister said the ban on recruitment in Sindh and Punjab was also responsible for lack of spending of the funds.

He said by the end of June, the ministry would achieve the target of Rs3,500 million utilisation which constituted around 78 per cent of the total allocated funds.

“You are playing with the figures which the common people do not understand. You have to make us believe how you would achieve the 78 per cent spending of your budget,” the chairperson insisted.

The minister cited official bottlenecks involved in spending of the funds. At times, he said, it took months to follow a simple procedure. “We, the entire ministry, supports you for bringing changes in the working of the finance ministry,” the minister said.

Secretary population welfare Shehzado Sheikh argued that in first place the ministry used various international grants and tried to save government’s money.

On this, Sher Mohammad Baloch, a member of the committee, suggested that if the ministry had enough funding it should ask the NA members to identify projects in their respective constituencies.

When the chairperson asked the secretary to call the meeting of National Trust for Population Welfare (Natpow)’s board of governors, Mr Sheikh sought more time.

“We are continuously asking the social welfare ministry, under whose jurisdiction the commission falls, to make it an effective body,” he said.

The trust was established in November 1994 under the Charitable Endowment Act 1890 with an endowment fund of Rs104 million. Its purpose was to help the private sector in the field of population welfare, especially family planning, mother and child health.

With Pakistan having nuclear explosions in May 1998, international donor agencies stopped giving funds and the trust became inactive.

However, on World Population Day on July 11, 2000, Gen Pervez Musharraf, then Chief Executive, promised the trust would be converted into an autonomous, democratically-structured, professionally-managed and transparently-run organisation.

But to this date owing to various legalities the body has not been made functional.