PESHAWAR, April 22: The provincial government would transfer funds to tehsil and town councils directly from the next financial year, informed sources said.
At present these funds are transferred to tehsil and town councils through respective district governments.
The sources said that according to the provision of the Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) Award, the district governments were bound to place 30 per cent of their developmental funds at the disposal of their respective tehsil and town councils with a view to enabling them to execute development projects themselves.
They also revealed that during the current fiscal year 2003-04, many of the district governments had failed to transfer the share of tehsil and town councils and this had forced them not to take up any development activity. The tehsil and town council administrations had conveyed their reservations to the provincial government time and again but to no avail.
In order to resolve the matter, the sources said the provincial government had decided to make amendment to the procedure of transferring of development funds from the coming financial year.
According to the amended rules, the funds' share of tehsil and town councils meant for development would be transferred directly to tehsil and town councils by the provincial government instead of releasing them through the district governments.
Likewise, the provincial government has also taken notice of the low utilization of development funds during the current financial year by various district governments and has directed the local government department to monitor developmental activities being carried out at district levels and ensure their timely completion.
The provincial government, said the sources, had also warned that development funds would not be given to those district government, who were unable to utilize them on time.
The sources said that most of the district governments could not prepare their annual development programmes (ADPs) on time because of lack of initiative on the part of district administrations, shortage of experienced technical staff and absence of inter-departmental coordination.
Similarly, political differences within the district councils in some of the cases also hindered speedy formulation of ADPs. The provincial government, in line with its budgetary plan, was supposed to distribute Rs867 million among 24 district governments of the province during the 2003-04 financial year to enable them to carry out development schemes, the sources added.
Out of it, the provincial government had so far distributed Rs655 million among 24 district governments. The amount was meant to support development initiatives during the first three quarters of the current financial year. However, the district governments, added the sources, collectively utilized only Rs75 million during the first eight months of the current financial year.
