Lapse of
allocated funds in Sindh
By
Dr. Ali Akbar Dhakan
In
the budget speech of FY10, the main objectives of policies of the Govt. of
Sindh were described as: (i) Reducing poverty (ii) Improving delivering of
basic social services (iii) Promoting foreign investment (iv) Enhancing
public private partnership in investment and market regulation and (v)
Developing skill etc. For poverty reduction Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth
Development Program, Union Council Poverty reduction Program, Landless
Harees Program and the housing for the poor projects have been launched. For
public-private partnership, Hyderabad Mirpur Khas Highway, Public Private
Partnership Units (PPP-U) etc, have been established. For skill Development,
the Sindh technical Education and Vocational training Authority and Sindh
Indigenous and Traditional Crafts Company have been setup. For promoting
Investment, the Thar Coal project, Sindh cities improvement programmes,
Rural Revitalization Programme, Sindh Development Fund, Sindh Investment
Board, Improving service Delivery in the health at the education sectors,
peoples Primary Health care Initiative, hepatitis control program, Expansion
and Improvement of Hospitals, Sindh Education reforms Program, promoting
Private Sector Schools scheme, national Program for Improvement of water
courses, Sindh water sector Improvement project, construction of small Dams
schemes have been started in Sindh whereas for community development the
projects like community Infrastructure Development, Coastal community
Development project etc have been prepared. But the big question is as to
whether the Sindh Government concerned departments are so much efficient to
start these all projects as soon as possible and utilize the allocated funds
for these Schemes to the maximum extent so that the problems of the people
of Sindh belonging to the rural and Urban areas are solved for necessary
development and poverty reduction. At the moment, it is being observed that
the people of Sindh are facing a great threat to the human lives and
security. The criminal activities like, abduction on ransom, dacoits and
theft and social crimes are at the highest ebb in Sindh for which the
police, security agencies and district management are responsible. The
district managements have been totally failure to control the crimes and
other social and economic evils from the Sindh province. The roads are in
poor condition but it is very sad to note that the roads under repairs and
new construction take very long period of about 3-5 years to get them
completed and this period of under construction or repairs is dangerous as
well as calamitous for the people and vehicles plying on the stones and
holes dug for the construction or repairs purpose alongside all the roads.
The Government of Sindh particularly the Chief Secretary of Sindh should see
that such problems faced by the people in rural and urban areas should be
looked after and properly solved in time for which the DCOs should be held
responsible and he should take up any loophole in the works taken for
repairs as well as construction of roads. For the purpose of the control of
crimes in the district, the DIGs and SPs should be taken to task and they
may be advised not to sit in their luxurious offices and residences but half
of their daily times should be given to visits to sites and fields. The list
of criminals village wise and taluka wise may be prepared and they should be
booked for any crime committed in their areas. The Position of funds
provided year-wise can be seen in the following table:
Year Utilization as % of allocation
2002-03: 67.2
2003-04: 84.1
2004-05: 72.2
2005-06: 89.8
2006-07: 88.4
2007-08: 86.4
2008-09: 84.7
(Source: Sindh Development Report 2009.)
It can be seen from the above table that funds allocated are not being fully utilized resulting in the lapse of amounts and incomplete of various schemes and programs. The concerned authorities may be held responsible for this lapse so that in future all the running schemes and projects can be fully completed in time in Sindh. In this way, all the vagaries and mishaps can be avoided for the prosperity and well being of the poor people of Sindh otherwise these small things will reach the shape of big problems for the survival of lives in the 21st century.