PESHAWAR, July 4: The public account committee of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Wednesday expressed annoyance over incomplete record of the money distributed to the militancy-hit people in the province as compensation.

Also, it flayed the misuse of IDP funding for purchasing luxury vehicles for officials tasked with carrying out relief activities for internally displaced people in the flood-affected districts of the province. The committee issued directions to the relevant officials to stop misusing taxpayers’ money, according to a statement issued here from the assembly secretariat.

The meeting, which took place in Abbottabad, was chaired by acting PAC chairman MPA Saqibullah Chamkani.

Lawmakers, who were in attendance, said they won’t allow government departments to use luxury vehicles to save public money. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority purchased two expensive cars for carrying out relief activities in the flood hit areas instead of using vehicles available with the relevant department.

Mr Chamkani expressed concern over huge spending on purchase of luxury cars by PDMA.

“It is the prime responsibility of everyone to avoid misusing of funds as the province is already facing financial crisis,” he said.

Participants said the PAC’s responsibility was not only to detect financial scandals and corruptions but also to stop financial and administrative mismanagement in government departments.

However, audit paras on the matter were dropped after detailed discussion. The committee, however, warned that such negligence on part of government departments would not be tolerated in future and that punitive actions would be taken against the departments involved in financial and administrative mismanagement.

Distribution of funds among internally displaced persons due to militancy in 2008-09 also came under discussion during the meeting. The officials of the audit department told the meeting that the relevant department was not providing details of Rs770 million distributed money among IDPs by officials of the then Relief Commissioner in 2008-09. The committee asked the relevant quarters to produce the record of the money distributed within three weeks, while the audit department was told to submit report within 45 days after thorough scrutiny of the details of the distributed amount. — Mohammad Ashfaq

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