Islamabad: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) have demanded an increase in their annual development budgets, a news source reported. Their allocations had been cut this year: AJK had seen its development plan allocation during year 2018-19 reduced from PKR 25 billion to PKR 22 billion.
Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan AJK’s Additional Chief Secretary Development Dr Syed Asif Hussain said that the reduction in the allocation would adversely affect the development initiatives which are at various stages of implementation.
He added that the federal government had allocated a total of PKR 70 billion during the last five years for development, and this had been utilised by 99%, as compared to other provinces where utilisation is roughly 60%.
He also informed the committee that delays in release of funds had postponed some projects from three years to a decade in some cases and gave the examples of medical colleges in Muzaffarabad and Mirpur.
