Local govt bank accounts revived

Guidelines issued to local bodies chief officers regarding funds transfer

LAHORE:

Bank accounts of revived local bodies in Punjab have been restored under the Local Government Act 2013.

Guidelines have reportedly been issued to the chief officers of the local bodies.

A spokesperson for the provincial local governments said the positions had been created  under an act introduced in 2019.

Under the guidelines issued on the instructions of the provincial secretary for local governments, officials concerned will be responsible for transferring the funds to accounts created under the 2013 act.

Current funds in the accounts will be transferred by crossed cheque.

All local government revenue, as well as tax and Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) share, shall be transferred immediately to the bank accounts opened under the earlier law.

No more transactions can be made from the bank accounts started under the Local Government Act 2019.

Payments will continue to be made for employees' salaries, pensions, electricity bills, fuel and other expenses.

The spokesman added that the officers concerned would be responsible for transferring the accounts.

He said the guidelines were aimed at enabling the local bodies to smoothly run their administrative and financial affairs. In this regard, steps are being taken to improve the financial situation after restoring the district system so that the frozen funds' transfer can be made smoothly.

Read Guidelines issued for opening bank accounts for local bodie

Sources said that due to the abolition of the district government system in Punjab, the financial system as a whole was frozen, including the funds in the accounts.

Thus, routine work was not being done in the districts and because of that people's problems were not being solved.

But now, the system has been restored in Punjab following directives of the Supreme Court and thanks to this system, district governments will be able to run day-to-day affairs and development work.

The disbursement of funds across Punjab has been started after the restoration of accounts and in improvement in the operations is expected in the coming days.

The sources said that more than Rs32 billion in funds of district governments was frozen by the local government department.

The funds are now being released to help revive the services of the local governments.

The sources said there were also some other accounts from which money was being transferred to the district governments.

They said routine work has started in the offices, but it has not fully resumed yet due to lack of funding. Still, with the release of funds from the provincial authorities, the system will improve, paving the way for quickly bringing on the tracks the system of district governments.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Lahore Mayor Colonel (retd) Mubashir Javed said the government had done a great injustice to the people by cutting off the funds.

For this reason, the development work for the people of the most populous province of the country had not been done to fulfil their needs and fundamental rights.

He said the PTI government was responsible for the situation.

"We have always fought for the rights of the people, and we will continue this struggle in the future so that people can enjoy their fundamental rights," the mayor added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2021.