Local faults: ‘Govt yet to release development funds’

Councillors, nazims threaten protest at Shaukat Khanum’s launch

PESHAWAR:

An alliance of councillors and nazims claimed on Monday the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government failed to release development funds and allot office space for village and neighbourhood representatives.

Protesting outside the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, they slammed the K-P government, saying the slogan of change was meaningless. Councillor Nazim Ittehad representatives threatened a demonstration on Tuesday (today) in front of PTI Chairperson Imran Khan in the provincial capital when he inaugurates the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital in Hayatabad.

The local government representatives were led by PTI Mardan district council member Sajjad Iqbal, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Jalala-III nazim Muhammad Shoaib, kisan councillor Ghafoor Khan and Katlang nazim Sabir Rehman. The protesting LG representatives held banners inscribed with slogans against the K-P administration and the local government minster. Hundreds of councillors and nazims from Mardan, Batkhela, Kohat, Charsadda, Swabi, Nowshera and Peshawar were part of the demonstration outside the provincial legislature.

“The K-P Minister for Local Government Inayatullah Khan is a liar,” Mardan tehsil councillor Waris Khan of the JI said. He explained Inayatullah and Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had announced on the assembly floor and in press statements that 30% of the ADP funds would be allocated for the local government setup. However, councillors stated not even a single penny of the amount had been released. The demonstrators said six months have passed since the LG set-up was established, but none of the promises had been fulfilled.

Project or population basis?

The sit-in continued till the filling of this report. City district nazim Muhammad Asim Khan failed to convince the protesters who said they would not budge until they met the chief minister.  “The government first decided funds would be released on a project basis, but later conditioned them according to the population,” Waris Khan said. He added a PC-I was submitted with union council secretaries, but the provincial government rejected the projects and the LG secretary instructed funds be distributed based on the population of the union council .

A senior official of the Local Government and Rural Development department, requesting anonymity, claimed development funds had been released to all tiers of the local government about a month ago. “They want the money to be given in an envelope so that they can use it whichever way they like. That is not the way the system works,” he stressed. The official reiterated funds were transferred to the councils and now the local government representatives have to make their budgets accordingly.

“These funds can be utilised for schemes and cannot be spent at will. The PC-1 for the projects has to be approved after which tenders will be issued,” he explained.

He said Rs13.1 billion has been allocated for development at village councils out of which Rs6.5 billion was released. At the tehsil/town council level, Rs8.7 billion was allocated and half the amount was released, he added.  Similarly, the allocation for the district council was Rs8.57 billion and half the amount had been handed over.

No corner office

Talking about working space, he said members of district councils would not be provided individual offices. He said a single office would be allotted for the district councils in which the nazim and naib nazims would sit.

“All the members of the councils will not be provided [individual] offices,” the official said. He added the tehsil and town councils had also been provided offices in which the nazim and naib nazims would sit, but tehsil councillors would not get individual spaces. He added village council offices comprised three rooms, one for the chairman, the other for the village secretary and the third for members of the council.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2015.