Money for development: Debate on Abbottabad tehsil council budget deferred

Tehsil nazim, treasury members, TMO absent from session

ABBOTABAD: The debate on the Abbottabad tehsil council budget took place on Friday. However, with the absence of treasury members, tehsil nazim and tehsil municipal officer (TMO) and subsequent resistance from the opposition, the session was adjourned till January 29. Sardar Sujah Ahmed, convener of the house, chaired the session which lasted for few minutes as all members of treasury bench as well as tehsil municipal officer (TMO) were absent from the session. This was immediately pointed out by the opposition.

Secret budgets

As soon as the proceedings began, the opposition leader Ansar Abbasi said none of the opposition members were provided with a copy of the development budget – hinting at ill-intention behind the move.

Abbasi said since tehsil nazim Ishaq Sulemani and his group had a plan to use Rs50 million from development fund for their personal schemes, they refused to provide a copy of the budget for the second time. He accused the nazim of “staging a drama” to get the budget approved during their last sitting on January 19.

“If they feel their budget was approved and they have enough strength, why are they abstaining from voting on the budget?” Abbasi asked. He added whatever tehsil nazim and his members were doing was against the spirit of Local Government Act 2013.

Hanif Abbasi, another opposition member, said the Abbottabad TMO has a partisan approach and his absence from the session and refusal to issue copies to the opposition proved he has no respect for the law. He warned if the TMO and other officials failed to attend the next session of tehsil council, the opposition members would lay siege to his office.

When contacted, convener Sardar Shujah Ahmed told The Express Tribune he was not provided with a copy of the budget himself. He rejected the claim of tehsil nazim Ishaq Sulemani that the budget was passed during the last session and added after protest by the opposition, he had adjourned the house till Friday (today). “No debate on the budget could take place in my absence, therefore, no approval was made either,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd,  2016.