PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Fisheries Department could manage to spend just Rs59 million from its allocated share from the annual development programme of the current fiscal year.
The KP government, which is going through severe financial crisis, had allocated Rs232.292 million for the development projects recommended by the Fisheries Department in the annual development program. The KP Finance Department has released Rs107.610 million for these projects but the department could be able to spend just Rs59 million out of the total amount.
Sources in the Fisheries Department informed that the KP Provincial Government had started a project for increasing the production of trout fish in cold areas to create employment opportunities for local people and increase production of trout fish in the province.
The source said that the project launched by the provincial government also fell prey to favouring political and favoured persons due to which the expected results could not be obtained from the said project. Moreover, because of poor planning most of trout fish farms were also destroyed by the recent floods.
The finance department sources added that since the federal government has stopped funding to the province, fisheries department, like other administrative departments could not get their allocated annual development funds. As a result, the PTI provincial government has to freeze the ADP for the current year.
The fisheries department sources also informed that despite receiving requests from a large number of people for sitting up trout fish farms, under the project in Malakand and Hazara divisions, the department ignored these requests and used the project for political purposes as a result desired results could not be achieved from the project.
In this regard, Provincial minister Muhibullah Khan was contacted several times, but he was not available for comments.
