HYDERABAD, Oct 30: The Hyderabad District Council on Saturday expressed concern over alleged irregularities in distribution of Zakat and Baitul Mal funds.

Members of the council called for a report from the in charge of the Baitul Mal to know the actual amount distributed over the years. They said they had submitted forms for the Food Support Programme (FSP) of the Baitul Mal but not a single individual had been given money under the programme.

Yousuf Qureshi raised the issue on a point of order which consumed the entire day and no other item of the agenda could be taken up at the session.

He said the attitude of Baitul Mal in charge Mr Jamali was quite indifferent because he had advised him to contact President Gen Pervez Musharraf for the fund after he had been asked about the status of the FSP forms.

He also accused Baitul Mal officials of humiliating poor people.

Minority member M. Parkash said the Baitul Mal fund was minority specific but he too had not get money to be distributed among deserving people.

Referring to section 27 of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 2001, Dr Ayaz Arain observed that the Baitul Mal was one of the group offices of the district government, headed by the EDO, community development.

He said the district officer concerned should be called in the council. Endorsing Mr Qureshi's view that the attitude of Mr Jamali was indifferent, he said likely beneficiaries of the Baitul Mal now accused union council nazims and the district government of working in collusion to deprive them of their rights. He said the DCO was to coordinate between departments concerned and he should present a report of three years in this respect.

He demanded that federal and Sindh governments should make the Zakat distribution system transparent.

Q. Hakim proposed that a committee should be formed in which non-elected people should also be inducted so that proper inquiries could be made about distribution of Zakat and Baitul Mal funds to date. He said chairmen of Zakat committees should coordinate with union council nazims.

Rana Siddiqui said so far Rs50 million had been distributed in special Zakat packages, Rs20 million under the Guzara allowance and Rs1.5 million had been released in the head of dowry but complaints of the council members had created suspicion in the whole system.

Badrun Nisa Qazi said she had been appointed a member for distribution of Zakat, Baitul Mal and Qarz-i-Hasna money among women by the Sindh government, adding that she had been informed that 26,000 enrolled deserving people had been paid from the Baitul Mal.

She said submission of forms for the FSP by the members was useless because 26,000 people had already received money under the programme.