June 25, 2006	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 28, 1427

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KOHAT, June 24: More than Rs16 billion, accumulated under the head of community council boards (CCBs), are lying unutilised since introduction of the local government system.

This was observed at a one-day workshop on capacity building, organised by the Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment (DTCE).

The reasons for accumulation of the amount are that allocations for the community boards are non-lapsable under the Local Government Ordinance, lack of awareness on part of public and hurdles created by the bureaucracy and district nazims who allegedly demand commission and reject development proposals of political opponents.

Addressing members of bar associations and press clubs from Kohat, Karak, Bannu and Nowshera, DTCE’s national project director Zafar Hayat Malik said that in view of the gravity of the situation, they had issued instructions that in case CCBs were not sanctioned for political reasons, bar members could serve legal notices on officials and district nazims concerned. He said the officials and nazims could also be sued.

The participants suggested that the National Reconstruction Bureau should find some practicable solution to the problem because the judiciary was already overburdened and more cases would further affect its performance.

Mr Malik said that as in most cases people did not have courage to stand up before influential nazims and corrupt officials, it had been decided to form monitoring committees with members from district bars and press clubs to help communities in getting their due share in development programmes.

He alleged that the bureaucracy was resisting the local government system because it had minimised their unlimited powers through which they ruled the masses.

He requested the press and the lawyers’ community to help the government in checking hindrances created by the bureaucracy in the way of full transfer of powers at the grass-roots level.

He said that under section 120 of the amended CCB rules, 2003, the district government was bound to release the first instalment of the cost of a project prepared by the CCB within 30 days of the.

Mr Malik said that till March 2006, 24,828 CCBs had been registered and 0.62 million people had taken responsibilities of completing, operating and managing various schemes.

Till March last, he added, local governments had spent Rs1.33 billion on development projects under the DTCE programme with a public partnership component of Rs413 million.