The cabinet has asked the Ministry of Finance for an approval of a mini-budget from the parliament allowing the release of billions of rupees worth of funds for new gas supply schemes in the constituencies of key parliamentarians ahead of the general elections due next year. The release of funds is being sought under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The move is likely to be met with political opposition with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in  Sindh already showing resistance against the utilisation of funds on new gas supply schemes primarily in Punjab.
The cabinet has also approved the lifting of the moratorium, imposed in 2009 by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) owing to acute shortage of gas for undertaking new gas supply schemes.
The Prime Minister has already approved a grant of Rs27b for parliamentarians belonging to constituencies of the ruling party. Most of the new gas schemes have been reserved for Punjab, believed to be the stronghold of the PML-N.
Following recommendations of a special committee, the PM approved the disbursement of funds for new schemes including those that had been put on hold during the PPP tenure. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, is also expected to be a beneficiary of the allocated funds for the provision of gas to different towns in his constituency in Abbottabad district.
Contrary to all these developments, the Supreme Court (SC) has termed the PM’s discretionary powers illegal and unconstitutional. The SC in the tenure of PPP had already declared PM allocation of funds to the MNAs and MPAs unconstitutional.
The incumbent government had approached the SC for a request to review its decision, which had been rejected.
