PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has managed to return a whopping Rs40 billion to the provincial pension and gratuity fund, which the previous Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government withdrew to finance its development projects, pushing the province to the brink of bankruptcy.

Official sources told Dawn that the previous government had withdrawn Rs36 billion from the pension and gratuity fund between June 2021 andDecember 2022 on account of the funds` shortage resulting from an overambitious development outlay, which even pushed the province`s throw-forward liability into 13.5 years.

Sources told Dawn that out of Rs36 billion, Rs20 billion was withdrawn in just three months of October, November and December of 2022 alone.

They said that current government has recouped and deposited Rs40 billion in its pension and gratuity fund.

The sources said that apart from clearing Rs6 billion liabilities out of the Rs20 billion left in Sehat Card, billions of liabilities left for water and sanitation services companies, tehsil municipal administration , other development departments left from the 2018-23, amounting to Rs7080 billion have also been clearedby present government.

The sources said that presently there was zero liability on part of the provincial government as it has cleared not just previously left liabilities but also releasing monthly amounts to all departments.

They said on June 22, 2021, the KP Pension Fund had transferred to the provincial government`s Account-I. Similarly, another Rs10 billion was transferred to same account from the pension fund February 11, 2022 while another sum of Rs10 billion was transferred to the same account on Sept 9, 2022. Besides, Rs1 billion was transferred to Account 1 of the provincial government on November 30, 2022 and another Rs9 billion on December 22, 2022.

When contacted, adviser to the chief minister for financeMuzammil Aslam said that the previous provincial government withdrew Rs36 billion from its pension and gratuity fund to meet its salary and other immediate needs during the postCovid financial crunch.

Mr Aslam said that the current government had deposited Rs40 billion in the pension fund in two tranches of Rs20 billion each.

He also said that the government had paid Rs33 billion in lieu of Sehat Card expenses and its liabilities over the last 11 months.

The aide to the CM said that not only was the provincial government footing the bill for the expensesincurred onaccountof Sehat Card but it had also paid Rs7 billion out of Rs20 billion liabilities.

He also said that the government was paying the Sehat Cardhealth insurance scheme bills on a monthly basis, leaving no liabilities.

Earlier last month, the KP government had announced to deposit Rs30 billion in its debt management fund.

In a statement, the provincial government had stated that it had deposited a substantial amount of Rs30 billion in the debt management fund, with plans to contribute an additional Rs30-40 billion, depending on the financial landscape.

It added that the debt management fund could accommodate up to 10 per cent of KP`s total debt of Rs725 billion.

`We [KP] have already initiated transfers and are committed to reducing our financial liabilities, setting a benchmark for other provinces and the federal government,` it said.