LG reps to resume protest over funds

Accuse K-P govt of not fulfilling its promises

PESHAWAR:

Local government representatives across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have decided to resume their agitation after the provincial government failed to release funds and grant them administrative powers.

An urgent meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday in Peshawar, as one month has passed since their last protest without any concrete results.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Local Councils Association has convened the meeting, which will be attended by association members, local government representatives from all districts, mayors, tehsil chairmen, and village and neighborhood council members.

According to the association's spokesperson, Tehsil Chairman Sarai Naurang, Laki Marwat Azizullah Khan Marwat, and Neighborhood Council 87 Chairman & Coordinator of the Local Councils Association Intizar Ali Khalil, the meeting will address multiple issues, including: The unfulfilled promises made by provincial ministers during the last protest in Peshawar, ongoing communication with provincial and federal authorities, lack of offices and resources for Tehsil and Village Neighborhood Councils in merged districts, the approval of a special grant for sports in Village Neighborhood Councils of merged districts, passed by the recent cabinet and the long-standing Charter of Demands repeatedly submitted to the provincial government.

During their previous protest at Jinnah Park, four provincial ministers assured the representatives that their issues would be resolved within 20 days.

However, with no progress after a month, the senior leadership of the association has decided to convene this urgent meeting to finalize their next course of action.

On December 27 last year, LG representatives from across K-P staged a protest demonstration in Peshawar's Jinnah Park over the lack of funds and powers.

A large number of Union Council chairmen, councilors and mayors of different districts reached Jinnah Park early in the morning and recorded their protest against the non-provision of funds by the PTI-led provincial government.

The protestors also chanted slogans against the provincial government, demanding restoration of the Local Government Act in its original form and release of the allocated funds for the Provincial Finance Commission Award.

They also demanded that the elected LG representatives be given offices, powers and necessary facilities. The demonstrators also urged that the share of local governments in the PFC Award should be increased from 20 per cent to 30 per cent.

They lamented that three years have been lost in the four-year term of LGs, so the provincial government must extend the term of local governments by another three years.

Mardan Mayor Hidayatullah Mayar said that it is a peaceful protest against the usurpation of LG rights after the elections were held in 2021.

They lamented that not even one rupee of fund has been given to LG representatives in the past three years, due to which they have had no public participation.

They have been protesting in the province for the last three years, with negotiations held with Chief Minister Amin Gandapur three times, verbally all the demands were accepted, but nothing practical emerged.