HARIPUR, May 10: District Nazim Haripur Dr Raja Amir Zaman has said the district government is in constant touch with the provincial government and making all-out efforts to get Haripur declared calamity-hit in view of the continuing drought there.

This nature’s vagary has impacted adversely on the agricultural production in the district.

This he said while responding to some identical demands made by the members during the council session here on Friday. The session was presided over by Riaz Khan Jadoon, the convenor, and attended by DCO, Tehsil Nazim and the members.

Dr Amir said that as the prevailing dry spell had played havoc with different crops of the season, he was endeavouring to get some relief from the banks, for which the area needed to be declared calamity-hit by the provincial government.

On a call attention from a member regarding levy of new taxes on the district, the Nazim said although the district government was empowered to impose taxes under the LG Ordinance, 2000, it did not do so, keeping in view the economic problems of the citizens.

About the distribution of development funds among the members, the district Nazim told the council that since he held every member in high esteem he tried to maintain an equilibrium in the distribution of schemes and avoided tilting towards anyone.

He said he was trying to seek the government’s permission for sanctioning schemes of at least Rs500,000 for each woman councillor.

When some opposition members questioned about the spending on referendum from the district funds, the Nazim emphatically said he did not spend a single penny on the referendum from the district’s coffers.

Rather, the union Nazimeen themselves spent on the campaign out of their own pockets. He thanked the members for making the exercise in the district a success.