IMC opposition members want briefing on budget

Move requisition to summon extraordinary meeting of local government

ISLAMABAD: The opposition in the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) on Friday filed a requisition to summon an extraordinary meeting of the IMC assembly to discuss the budget for the upcoming financial year and rules for the formation of Union Councils (UCs).

The requisition was submitted by the IMC Opposition Leader, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Ali Nawaz Awan to the office of the IMC’s Chief Metropolitan Officer (CMO).

The requisition had been signed by 31 other IMC Union Council Chairmen.

The IMC members have demanded why the IMC was not given its share for development in the federal budget for the fiscal year 2017-18. They also want to discuss the rules for the establishment of union councils.

The federal government did not allocate any money for the nascent IMC in its budget proposal owing to a lack of financing rules for the IMC. The rules were supposed to be notified by the interior ministry.

The IMC came into being after local government (LG) elections were held in Islamabad on November 30, 2015.

Since then, the IMC has been relying on funds provided by the Capital Development Authority (CDA). So far, the body has borrowed around Rs5 to Rs6 billion from the civic agency.

The prime minister had promised to provide Rs10 billion to IMC to meet its non-development expenditures, however, the finance ministry has so far only released Rs2.7 billion.

The opposition members noted that a deliberate attempt was being made by the government to ensure that the local body system in federal capital fails which is why they did not want to empower the local government representatives by releasing the money.

In the past 18 months during which the IMC has governed the capital, its elected representatives have failed to chalk out any plan to address basic civic issues nor has it been able to kickstart any development programme in the capital.

The IMC had sought Rs12 billion from the government in the upcoming fiscal year 2017-18. They had earmarked a 15 per cent lump sum amount as a carry forward from the Rs7.3 billion unpaid cash assistance which the federal government had promised them in the last fiscal year. The money, if provided, has been slated to meet the non-development expenditures of IMC.

“The federal government had approved Rs2.7 billion for IMC in the fiscal year 2016-17 of which it released Rs1.6 billion, which was barely enough to pay the salaries of staff for five months,” an IMC official told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity.

The official further said that the IMC at the moment only had Rs180 million in its accounts – money which had been collected as a number of fines and fees.

The requisition had been signed by UC Chairmen Malik Sajid Mahmood, Tanveer Qazi, Malik Anwar Ali, Malik Mohammad Rafiq, Khurram Bakhtiar, Raja Faisal Nadeem, Fauzia Arshad, Anjum Shahzad, Raja Khurram Nawaz, Sheraz Kiyani, Irum Pervaiz, Naveeda Abdul, Raffat Naz, Raja Zulqurnain, Raja Zahid, Khurram Bakhtiar, Ahmed Khan, Arooj Shahzad, Raja Qaiser, Malik Ikhlaq, Farzand Shahid, Mubashir Khattak, Shoaib Khan, Ayube Khattak.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2017.