PESHAWAR
Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ghulam Ali has said that he will send back the unmerited helicopter bill meant to provide blanket immunity to the illegal users of provincial government’s helicopter after clearly writing his suggestions on it by using the powers conferred to him by the constitution.
This bill, he said, was prepared and passed through the provincial assembly in a hasty process overnight to provide blanket immunity to the leader of a specific party by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.
Briefly talking to the media here on Friday, Governor Ghulam Ali said the constitution and law give privilege only to the governor and chief minister to utilize helicopter service during routine official affairs or in any emergency.
The permission of using government owned helicopters was not for a common man or leader of any political party, the Governor said and added that he will only use the powers conferred to him by the constitution and send back the bill after writing his note on it.
He categorically said that only the governor and chief minister have the legal right to use the provincial government’s helicopter as they were the constitutional chief executives of the province.
To a question, the Governor said there was no possibility of governor rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and never would he do this. He said general elections were due within around eight months and he would play his role in maintaining the political temperature normal.
The PTI government, he said, tried to legalize the questionable use of provincial government’s helicopter by unauthorized persons through this bill. So far, he said around 1800 people used the provincial government’s helicopter and PTI chief Imran Khan, Ali Ameen Gandapur, Asad Qaisar and Ibrarul Haq were at the top of the list of its users.
He said PTI chief Imran Khan travelled 137 times in the KP government’s helicopter, expenditures of which amount to Rs 50 million on official rate while on commercial rate the amount counts at Rs 70 million.
The Governor continued that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the inquiry report has hinted at recovering this amount. If a proper recovery in this case was made from 1800 people, the amount would increase manifold and a good precedent would be set for the future.
