Concern expressed over CDGR failure in passing annual budget

Syed Kausar Abbas, programme manager at the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), on Wednesday expressed concern over the failure of the City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) in passing its annual budget for the fiscal year 2014-15 till now.

He said annual budget of City District Government Rawalpindi for fiscal year 2014-15 has not been passed yet due to appointment of non-technical staff in the Finance and planning department.

He said that the post of Executive District Officer Finance and Planning of Rawalpindi could not be filled since last three years which shows that the CDGR is less concerned with the budget and planning section of the district.

Delay in passing the budget would not only affect 30, 000 employees but it will also affect over 5 million natives of Rawalpindi. According to Budget Rules of Government of Punjab introduced in 2003, the district government was bound to follow the budget timelines and calendar.

Most of the district governments including Rawalpindi do not follow the budget rules and its time frame and make the budget at the eleventh hour without any consultation with the citizens living in the district, he said.

He said that CPDI have highlighted the issue of vacant post of EDO finance and planning before as well but the City District Government has not appointed a well-trained EDO yet.

The district budget department needs to concentrate on the citizen friendly and participatory budget that ensure the proper service delivery to the people according to their need but unfortunately it has not been practiced yet by CDGR. Kausar Abbas urged the CDGR to share the budget document on their official website to make it open to the citizens.
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Daily Mail

City govt fails to approve budget for 2014-15

RAWALPINDI: The City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) failed to approve its annual budget for 2014-15, giving rise to the fear that the government employees will not get July salaries before Eidul Fitr.

The local government had announced to provide the salaries to the government employees before the Eidul Fitr but the local administration has failed to approve the annual budget hence the salaries will not be released.

A senior official of the CDGR told Dawn that the employees might not get 10 per cent increase the government had announced in the budget as the local administration had not received the notification with regard to approval of Punjab annual budget for 2014-15.

He said that the CDGR had completed homework for the annual budget but was waiting for the provincial government notification approving provincial budget and share of the Rawalpindi district.

“The letter of the Punjab government regarding the district share and notification of the budget is necessary for the approval of its (district) budget and without the letter the finance department will not release funds to it.

Employees may not get July salaries before Eid

“If the annual budget of the district is not approved before the Eid, the local administration will have to get special permission from the government for the release of salaries earlier without the increase as promised in the provincial budget,” he said.

The local government utilises 90 per cent of the funds provided by the provincial government is utilised in payment of salaries of the government employees and the rest is spent on meeting other expenditures.

According to rules, the districts will have to prepare the budget soon after the approval of the provincial budget. However, there is grace period of one month for the preparation of budget of the district.

In 2013-14, the total outlay of the budget was Rs10.994 billion. Salary budget was Rs8780.214 million and budget for contingencies Rs581.122 million.

Total non-development budget was Rs9361.336 million including bills of electricity, telephones, fuel and natural gas.

Total receipt under PFC Award was Rs9152.587 million while PFC municipal share was Rs293.712 million and own source receipts were Rs158.272 million.

District Coordination Officer (DCO) Sajid Zafar Dall told Dawn that the CDGR would approve the budget next week and the salaries of the government employees would be released before Eidul Fitr.

He said the provincial government intimated the Provincial Finance Commission Award share of the district verbally and the CDGR would announce the budget soon after receiving the formal letter in this regard.

He said that the CDGR had made development schemes for all the tehsils in the district and would launch them after Eidul Fitr.

Published in Dawn, July 9th , 2014
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CPDI launches Right to Information helpline

Islamabad

The Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) has introduced Right to Information (RTI) helpline to facilitate citizens in filing information requests to public offices.

The announcement in this regard was made in a press conference organised by CPDI. Citizens can now call 051-2224496 to get assistance in filing of information request to public offices.

The CPDI experts on RTI will help the citizens for assistance on helpline.

Speaking to the media, Program Manager CPDI Syed Kausar Abbas said that six months had passed since the law for Right to Information has been passed in Punjab, but till now no Public Information Officer has been appointed in this institution.

“A free and self-reliant information commission was set up for access to information, but till date Punjab commission has not started functioning. Punjab Government should instantly setup an office and designate staff for information commission, and fix a specific amount for developmental and non-developmental budget as well as the salaries for staff of information commission in the upcoming Provincial Budget,” demanded Abbas.

He appreciated the legislation for RTI in KPK and Punjab. “The federal government should also take steps towards implementations of RTI as soon as possible. Through RTI, the citizens will get a chance to make government offices accountable.” He said that RTI is the best tool for accountability of public institutions.

He said that CPDI has launched helpline service to facilitate the citizens for RTI, where every citizen would be guided to access the information and can get all assistance regarding the RTI process.

He also identified that in KPK, positive and progressive development has been made by hiring Public Information Officers in all public offices at district level. “Through this, citizens can now file information request to the concerned public information officer to get information about institutions.” He said Information Commission has started its operations in KPK, whereas in Punjab, it has not started functioning which is resulting in problem faced by the general public in information access.

He said that the bureaucracy is taking the process for access to information for granted. He also mentioned that in accordance to the Punjab RTI act, any citizen can request authorities on a plain paper for access to information.

“According to RTI, every citizen can access information about public record of offices which includes performance of public offices, copies of the budget and its expenditures, copies of contracts and procurement process, details of developmental schemes. etc and any information pertaining to the general public.”

According to this law, all government institutions are bound to provide information within a time period of fourteen days.

All districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: CNBA identifies loopholes in budget-making process

The Citizen Network for Budget Accountability (CNBA) points out loopholes in the budget making process in all 25 districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. CNBA is a network of civil society organisations, academia and NGOs working on the monitoring of Government Budget – Strengthening the participation of citizens, enforcing transparency and accountability, an initiative was taken by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPD) in collaboration of National Endowment for Democracy (NED) under its project Strengthening Civil Society through Improved Accountability.

CPDI has basic objective to work for budget making process to make it participatory and need-based for public. It was said by Syed Kausar Abbas, Programme Manager Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) while talking to media on the occasion of launching ceremony of CNBA in Peshawar. Participants from 15 civil society organisations across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa participated in the launching ceremony of CNBA.

The member organisations include Awami Welfare Society, Sheen Ghar Association, Hayyat Welfare Organisation, Pak Women Organisation, Pro-growth, Centre for Governance and Public Accountability, Community Development Organisation, Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives, Frontier Rural Support Organisation, PREPARED, College of Youth Activism and Development, Women Concern, Society for Appraisal and Women Empowerment in Rural Areas and Khwendo Kor Organisation. These organisations are enthusiastic to work for budget tracking and advocacy at district level in all the districts of KP. The purpose of this network is to enhance the capacity of civil society organisations to involve them in the budget making process at district levels. Kausar Abbas said CNBA members will conduct a survey on the budget making process in all the districts of KP to monitor the performance of budget officials according to Budget Rules 2003. After conducting a detailed survey in all districts of KP, CNBA will organise consultative sessions of Stakeholders with District officials to make the budget process participatory.
Business Recorder

Smart phone application to conduct survey on budget process

Rawalpindi: Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives, (CPDI) a provincial

secretariat of Citizen Network for Budget Accountability (CNBA) launched smart phone application to conduct District Budget Survey in Punjab.

Talking to the media person in Rawalpindi Syed Kausar Abbas, Program Manager Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) and Citizen

Network for Budget Accountability (CNBA) told that a mobile based application is launched to conduct a budget survey in all 36 districts of Punjab.

The partners of Citizen Network for Budget Accountability (CNBA) will conduct budget survey in all 36 districts of Punjab to gauge the process of budget at district level.

CPDI has sent letters to all Executive District Officers of Finance and Planning departments in 36 districts to intimate them about the budget survey in their district. Kausar Abbas said that CPDI is introducing smart applications to get the accuracy in the survey and as well as to track the performance of survey at each district.

He said that the budget officials are reluctant to share the information about the district budget. Information about the district budget is a

fundamental right of every citizen and the district officials should encourage the staff to share the information.

There is no provision of hiding the budget information in the Budget Rules. He said that the budget document is a public document and it should be publicize and open to everyone. He urged the district finance and planning department to engage the citizens in the budget consultation to make the budget making process transparent.

The district governments must follow the budget rules to make the budget document transparent to public. The district governments should make a

mechanism to get their feedback of citizens in the budget making process.

The budget document should be made easy for the citizen. A citizen budget should be prepared for the people to analyze the budget of the district. He said that the language of the budget document should be easy to understand for the public.

It should not be made complicated for the citizens. Kausar Abbas urged the citizens to take active part in the budget making process to hold the public expenditures accountable.

The expenditures of the budget should be shared with the citizens on regular basis and feedback mechanism should be enhanced to ensure the public participation in the budget making process of the district.

He said that the district governments should share

the budget document and details of expenditures on the websites to enhance the citizen access to budget.

The post Smart phone application to conduct survey on budget process appeared first on Pakistan News Network.
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Increase in police budget demanded

Sunday, April 06, 2014 – Rawalpindi—Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) demanded increase in the budget of Punjab Police in the upcoming fiscal year 2014-15. Speaking to the media Syed Kausar Abbas, Program Manager of Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) said that the Government should provide special relief to the Police department in upcoming budget 2014-15.

The police should be equipped with the facilities to increase their moral to serve the citizen in a better way. The department of police deals with the petty issues of community on daily basis but they do not get relief in their salaries and budget.

The funds of the police stations should be given to the Station House Officers to empower them to utilize their allocated funds for the development of police station.

All salary and no-salary funds should be shared with SHOs and citizens. Kausar Abbas said that the Government should focus on provision of all necessary facilities to the police and as well as police stations. He said that the Government should allocate development funds for the police stations having defective buildings of police stations. He said that the Government should furnish police stations with all the necessary facilities to facilitate the citizens.

The citizen does not get the basic facilities in the police stations when they approach police station to get support for their issues. Kausar Abbas urged the Government that the Police stations should be provided with the internet and functional computers, properly maintained buildings, clean drinking water, waiting rooms, clean environment, transport, properly trained staff to facilitate the citizen.

Published in Pakistan Observer

Dated :Monday, April 14, 2014, Jamadi-ul-Sani 13, 1435 AH

CDGR urged to reform budget making process

RAWALPINDI – Citizens Network for Budget Accountability (CNBA) and Centre for Peace and Development (CPDI) have urged the City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) to reform the budget making process at the district level. The district governments should follow the budget rules to make the budget document transparent to public, they suggested. Talking to media persons, Syed Kausar Abbas, programme manager CPDI and CNBA, on Tuesday urged the district finance and planning department to engage the citizens to make the budget making process transparent.
said the budget document was a public document and it should be shared with the citizens to get their feedback on the budget allocated for their district.
He said that the district officials hesitated to share the information about the budget making process as well as the budget document with citizens. The budget document should be made easy for the citizens. He urged the citizens to take active part in the budget making process to hold the public expenditures accountable. The expenditures of the budget should be shared with the citizens on regular basis and feedback mechanism should be enhanced to ensure the public participation in the budget making process.

The Nation Link

Degree Colleges in Dhoke Syedan still lying incomplete

Rawalpindi

Two degree colleges in Rawalpindi Cantonment Area Dhoke Syedan are still pending after spending Rs42 million in fiscal year 2008-9. The project was inaugurated by former chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and former law minister Muhammad Basharat Raja in 2007.

A Degree College for Boys and Degree College for Girls was proposed in the project and Rs42 million were released and spent on the colleges, but still government has not initiated classes in both the colleges.

Talking to ‘The News’, Syed Kausar Abbas, Program Manager, Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives, (CPDI) said that the Government of Punjab still not able to start classes in two degree colleges of Dhoke Syedan Chowk, Rawalpindi. The project of construction of two degree colleges in Dhoke Syedan Chok was started in year 2007. He said Rs42 million funds were released and spent on the construction of college buildings, but still the buildings are incomplete. These two colleges are the only colleges in the surrounding of NA-52 and NA-54. Both the National Assembly constituencies are owned by well-powered elected representatives, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and MNA Malik Abrar Ahmad.

It is a pity that thousands of young boys and girls travel a long distances to get the higher education due to incompletion of these degree colleges in Dhoke Syedan Chowk Rawalpindi. Number of campaigns have been launched to highlight the issue of degree colleges, but still the government of Punjab is not paying attention towards the completion of these colleges.

Hamayun Ashraf Director Colleges when contacted, committed to start the classes in the month of September 2014. He said that the government should pay attention to the educational institutions, which lack basic facilities and provide all necessary facilities to the educational institutions to provide quality education to the students.
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