Daily Times

The province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has, since long, remained a stage of action for international conspiracies, politics and natural calamities. It has been host to millions of Afghan refugees pouring in due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It has also faced floods that caused severe damage to the infrastructure. It has been a victim of terrorism as well as the war on terror.

Such situations have resulted in a deteriorating quality of governance and weakening of public service delivery. Resultantly, the life of ordinary citizens has become more difficult. Such a dismal situation of the people of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa required special attention from the federation for its rehabilitation. Federal government came up with different schemes for improving the lives of the people of the province; however, most of the time its intervention was in the shape of finances, which unfortunately could not fetch the desired results.

In the following paragraphs, an attempt would be made to find out the reasons for the ineffectiveness of government interventions for improving the living standards of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Intervention in the development portfolio is the baby of the Planning and Development Department and the executive authority that would develop an integrated development plan for the area. However, officials in the provincial government were removed from this primary function in favour of the elected representatives – MNAs, MPAs and Senators – who are not seen focusing on quality legislation. This clear violation of the principle of separation of powers has made the department redundant. Carpeted roads are getting re-carpeted to bribe voters. The premier was once of the opinion that legislators has no business handling development funds. However, he has done nothing to stop it, apparently due to political expediency.

The premier was against the opinion of the legislators in the development portfolio but has done nothing against it to date, probably due to political expediency

An examination of the Annual Development Schemes reveals that the primary motive behind the formulation of the schemes is either to bribe the people in a constituency, or providing project allowance, contract staff and luxury vehicles to the officials. This approach towards development is a clear violation of the austerity scheme of the prime minister. Such schemes need to be identified and rectified.

A concept of going below the bid value has also been developed. Contractors have been seen offering more than 50 per cent below the bid value. Such bids are getting accepted by the executing agencies. This practice needs to be reexamined by the authorities in two ways; first, are the estimates in the schemes exaggerated? Secondly, is the quality of work compromised?

Recently, a new chief secretary in the province, reckoned by many as a super bureaucrat, discovered the reason for the backwardness of the province. His ‘remedy’ is to buy Fortuner SUVs for all bureaucrats in the province. We in the 21st century still believe that development in the province means spending on the bureaucracy and not on the people. The concept of public service delivery would remain a myth until we change this attitude. The nation reserves the right to ask whether the tax money and the IMF loans are for buying such vehicles or for poverty eradication through actual development. Is it not a clear violation of the prime minister’s policy of austerity?

Recently, the babus in the province were given an executive allowance. This practically doubled their salaries. This was followed by grant of the allowance to engineers and senior police officers. A PMS officer receiving a Rs 65,000 salary is now getting almost Rs 200,000. The same officers have suggested that there be no raise in salaries of those who are not receiving the allowance.

The nation will excel when our bureaucrats starts considering themselves public servants responsible for efficient and effective public service delivery, and legislators stop poking their nose in the development portfolio. The federation needs to check these trends before making any expenditure in the province.

The writer is a Pakistani journalist currently based in Malaysia. He can be reached at pmpk55@hotmail.com