Sujawal District Council passes surplus budget

Sanctioned budget for previous year's development works not released, complains councillor

HYDERABAD: The Sujawal District Council has passed a deficit-free budget of Rs430.83 million for the fiscal year 2018-19. The council's chairperson, Haji Usman Khan Malkani, presented the budget on Wednesday which was unanimously approved.



The budget has earmarked Rs250.5 million under the head of development expenditures for new schemes in the coastal district. Another sum of Rs50 million has been set aside for the ongoing development works.

Each member of the council will receive Rs5.5 million over the year for the development works in their union councils. The councilors elected on the reserve seats will get Rs2.7 million for the same purpose. For disaster relief and rescue work, Rs3.8 million have been kept in the budget.

Councilor Firdous Aziz Mirbahar complained that the process of fair bidding for the development schemes is not followed and only the favourite contractors are given projects. Another councilor, Sajjad Shoro, complained that the sanctioned budget for the previous year's development works has not been released.

Separately, Mithi Municipal Committee in Tharparkar district also passed a Rs320.54 million budget on Thursday with a marginal surplus of around Rs300,000. Dr Manoj Kumar Malani, the MC's chairperson, said no new tax has been added to the budget.

A sum of Rs80.8 million has been reserved for the new development works while Rs20.5 million will be spent over the ongoing development projects. The highest part of the budget, Rs120 million, will be consumed by the salary and pension component.



The Town Committee Naukot, Mirpurkhas district, also approved its budget for fiscal 2018-19 with an outlay of over Rs290 million. For the new development schemes, Rs40 million have been set aside while Rs11 million will be utilised over the purchase of vehicles and a fire tender.