May 12, 2007	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1428

RAWALPINDI, May 11: Rawalpindi is one of the districts which is receiving insufficient uplift funds compared to other areas of the Punjab despite the fact that its contribution to the annual income of the provincial government is about Rs6.3 billion.

Consisting of eight towns and a vast population, the district gets Rs18.2 million monthly development fund from Punjab government while small cities like Jhang, Pakpattan, Bhakkar and Sahiwal receive Rs29 million, Rs23 million, Rs24 million and Rs20 million, respectively.

Official sources told Dawn on Friday that the provincial finance department had allocated ‘very less monthly fund’ for Rawalpindi district compared to its population, challenges and other requirements of the people of the city.

Muzaffargarh, which is a much smaller district compared to Rawalpindi in terms of area and population, is getting Rs32.7 million monthly development fund, almost double of what Rawalpindi is getting.

The provincial government has declared Rawalpindi as one of the five big cities of the Punjab, but the district receives less development fund compared to other small and big cities of the province.

Though the district also receives MNA grants for development activities, the neglected and far-flung towns like Kotli Sattian, Kahuta and Gujar Khan have not yet witnessed a significant pace of uplift activities, whereas Rawalpindi city and Taxila town represented by Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Labour Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan have witnessed development schemes to some extent.

Sources said uplift schemes in any district were undertaken according to the monthly development fund released by the Punjab government, and added that big cities like Rawalpindi could not be developed properly unless sufficient money was transferred to the district administration.

“We have been facing difficulties in the construction of Rs40 million Stadium Road. The contractors were demanding money and we were short of funds. Then on our repeated insistence, the finance department transferred some money to us to help us continue with the work on the project,” a source said.

“How can we undertake projects in the entire district with nominal fund given to us by the provincial authorities,” a source in the EDO finance office told this scribe.

Ironically, the district administration has yet not utilised about 30 per cent of Rs231.7 million budget of Rawalpindi in 2006-07.

Moreover, the civic agencies like the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA), Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), works and services department and communication and works (C&W) department are crying for funds.

Reliable sources said some projects that were announced by Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi proved to be fruitful for Rawalpindi otherwise the nominal monthly development fund provided by the provincial authorities could not change the fate of the garrison city.

They said schemes like Punjab Education Reforms Programme, health sector reforms and other initiatives helped a lot in establishing facilities for the people of Rawalpindi.