District Council Hall: Absence of LG officials from session draws nazim’s ire

Threatens action if they are not in attendance next time

PESHAWAR: Officers of Peshawar Development Authority, Capital City Police, municipal administration and departments under the City district government should be  present at sessions, said the district nazim.

Nazim Asim Khan threatened serious action against said officials if they do not attend subsequent sessions. The nazim said this during the city district government session at District Council Hall on Thursday.

Asim said he will invite Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to brief him on prevailing issues, provided opposition members do not protest. Jamaat-e-Islami leader Khalid Waqas Chamkani promised their party members would not show any resistance. JI is a member of the PTI-led coalition leading the province.

However, members of JI criticised the district government’s budget for fiscal year 2015-16. The nazim responded, saying even if JI does not support the budget, the house has a clear majority and can pass it. Asim added the development budget has been equally distributed among members, while Rs40 million has been allocated for women.

Local issues

A 15-member committee was also formulated under the supervision of Asim. Members of the committee will meet NADRA officials to discuss the issue of blocked national identity cards.

“We will protest against NADRA if the issue [of blocked CNICs] is not resolved,” said the nazim.

He also issued an explanation notice to Town-I nazim Naseem and the town municipal administration to investigation corruption in property tax and auctions.



Asim said district members do not get salaries but they would get honorariums. Members should submit the PC-I of their projects by March 2016 so that development work can be started in their respective areas, he added.

Asim acknowledged conflicts in the district local fund would be resolved soon.

New resolutions

At the session, the district members passed three resolutions unanimously.

One of the resolutions included renaming a degree college for girls in honour of Huzaifa Aftab,  a student killed in the Army Public School massacre.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party leader Razaullah Khan Chagharmatti said their time has been wasted because of the delay in the rules of business so now they would consider their tenure from November 3, 2015 to November 3, 2019 and not from June 2015.

Moreover, an altercation was witnessed between treasury bench members Kulsum Yousaf and Gul Afzal, both from PTI, inside District Council Hall. Another PTI member Fatima Nosherwan sat on one of the benches reserved for men which triggered the spat in which Kulsum was defending Fatima.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th,  2015.