How did PTI distribute Ramzan relief money in KP?
SWAT: The residents of Swat and Kalam express serious concern over the alleged embezzlement in funds of Ramzan relief package which has raise serious concern over the misuse of public funds at the hand of self-centred corrupt elements at local level.
Residents of Swat’s tourist valley Kalam and its surrounding areas have expressed deep concern over the unfair distribution of the Ramadan relief package announced by the government. Locals say that despite claims of packages worth billions of rupees at the federal and provincial levels, the real deserving and poor families of Kalam are still deprived of assistance.
According to the allegations made by the residents of Kalam and social activists said that PTI local cabinet select the names of those persons who work for the party and they have affiliation for the party beside this huge amount of money reserved for PTI MPAs who distribute this money among their tenants and likeminded people.
Locals claim that relief goods and cash are allegedly being distributed among local workers and supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) instead of being given to the deserving. According to the residents, the lists prepared for the relief package have ignored merit and only included those who belong to the ruling party.
The deserving people say that they were waiting for government relief during this period of severe inflation, but the poor have been left empty-handed due to lack of transparency in the distribution process.
The Ramzan package is currently a topic of discussion at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa level as well. The provincial government has announced a Rs 13 billion package under which Rs 12,500 per family is to be given to about 1 million families.
However, the opposition parties (ANP, JUI-F and PML-N) have alleged that the district administration has been forced to follow the lists provided by the elected representatives (MPAs and MNAs), which has paved the way for “political monkey-sharing”.
The poor people of Kalam and civil society have demanded that the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the concerned authorities take immediate notice of the distribution process of the relief package.
The distribution process should be made transparent based on BISP or other impartial data, free from political interference. The rights should be extended to the real beneficiaries (widows, orphans and daily wage workers).”It is the constitutional and moral responsibility of the government to provide relief to the poor during Ramzan, it should not be sacrificed for political loyalties.
Read also: KP govt considers dedicated quota for PTI MPAs in Ramazan relief package
