MANSEHRA: Community boards seek funds for uplift projects
By Nisar Ahmed Khan
MANSEHRA, Nov 6: Chairmen of the 1,150 Citizen Community Boards (CCBs) of the district have sought withdrawal of the condition under which they are required to raise 25 per cent of the funds needed for the development schemes to be launched.
“The October 8 earthquake has shattered the economy and the community participatory system in the Mansehra district has failed to raise the 25 per cent required for the projects.
“If the government wants to revive the damaged infrastructure, it should empower the boards by removing this condition immediately,” said the head of a board on Tuesday at an inauguration ceremony of a CCB office.
District Nazim Sardar Mohammad Yousaf, Mansehra Tehsil Nazim Khuram Hanif Khan, Balakot Tehsil Nazim Junaid Qasim, CCB’s district chairman Malik Muzaffar Deen and chairmen of the CCBs attended the ceremony.
The community board representatives said the CCBs afforded an opportunity to the people at the grass-roots level to solve their basic problems, which was the essence of the local body system.
They said the infrastructure, especially the water and sanitation schemes, had been widely damaged in the earthquake and the government alone could not rebuild it.
They also urged non-governmental organisations to utilise most of their funds through the community boards.
The district nazim said there were 30,000 members of the 1,150 CCBs in Mansehra, but due to the aforementioned condition only 150 to 160 boards were working effectively.
He urged the National Reconstruction Bureau to waive the condition and increase the development budget for earthquake-affected union councils.The nazim added that amendments to the Local Government Ordinance, 2002, had badly affected the performance of the local bodies.
