Billion Tree Tsunami project: KP Assembly echoes with corruption allegations

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly once again echoed with discussion on the Billion Tree Tsunami project as the opposition demanded proper investigation into the alleged irregularities in the much-publicised tree plantation venture.

The opposition members debated the issue on Monday, which was raised by Ziaullah Afridi, who has been expelled from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). They demanded sending the case to the KP Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) or National Accountability Bureau (NAB). They said that the the PTI-led provincial government tried to hide its billions of rupees misuse as the whole province was hit by a tsunami of corruption.

Ziaullah, on a point of order, said the government was trying to win over journalists by making them offers, but they deserved a salute for rejecting such temptations. He added it was immoral and illegal to offer someone bribe. 

The MPA said the story published in Daily Jang by Resident Editor Arshad Aziz Malik about the Billion Tree Tsunami project was based on facts and sending the journalist an offer of providing saplings worth Rs10 million was tantamount to open corruption.

Ziaullah asked KP Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser to give his ruling on sending the case to the accountability body so that facts could be brought to the fore. He alleged that embezzlement of billions of rupees took place in the tree plantation project.

Freedom Network, a media sector watchdog has called the supply order as harassment of the reporter, stating that a journalist has the right to ask questions and the government is obliged to answer them.   

Opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman, who belongs to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), supported the demand for investigation. He said it was ironic that the government was reluctant to empower its own Ehtesab Commission to investigate the corruption cases.

“The Ehtesab Commission should be activated and made an independent body to take action against corruption and corrupt practices,” he stated.

Syed Jaffar Shah of the Awami National Party (ANP) said the Billion Tree Tsunami project was the talk of the town nowadays because of alleged large-scale embezzlement. He said the matter should be sent to the Ehtesab Commission.

However, KP Minister for Higher Education Mushtaq Ghani and MPA Fazl-e-Elahi, both from the ruling PTI, defended the project. They said everything was done transparently right from buying saplings from nurseries to distribution among farmers. They added that the forest department had all the record.

“As the reporter had said that saplings were available for Rs2 while the forest department had bought these at high rate, the department sent him a letter asking him to provide saplings worth Rs10 million at the price mentioned by him,” Ghani argued.

The forest department would adopt proper procedure of procurement if the reporter could provide saplings at the price he mentioned which would also benefit the government, he pointed out.

Ghani said those having any proof should go to NAB or Ehtesab Commission and the government was confidant of proving the allegations wrong. The minister said the opposition did not see the projects launched for public welfare like Swat Motorway, Bus Rapid Transit , Hayatabad Flyover, and mini dams but just criticised the government for the sake of it.

Earlier, opposition members and Health Minister Shahram Khan Tarakai exchanged harsh words over the issue of Benazir Bhutto Children Hospital in Mardan and its merger into Mardan Medical Complex (MMC).

Nighat Orakzai of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said Benazir Bhutto Children Hospital established by the previous ANP-PPP coalition government was being merged into the MMC. She feared the government’s would accommodated people there on the basis nepotism.

Shahram said there should be no politics on hospitals and that recruitment would be done through the National Testing Service. He added that the hospital’s name would not be changed.

The story was published with a different headline – Billion Tree Tsunami project: ‘PTI corruption’ echoes in KP Assembly

Originally published in The News