July 17, 2008	Thursday	Rajab 13, 1429

RAWALPINDI, July 16: The City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) passed its Rs5.6 billion budget for 2008-09 on Wednesday, not by voting but by obtaining signatures of its council members.

Nazim Raja Javed Ikhlas resorted to the unprecedented method to outmanoeuvre the opposition members belonging to the PPP and PML-N who stormed the rostrum to prevent him from presenting the budget formally.

They tore up the budget documents and created pandemonium in the council hall. PML-Q members surrounded Raja Ikhlas to protect him from the opposition onslaught.

Eventually, the nazim and his supporters succeeded in securing the signatures of 212 of the 237 members present in the 250-member house to sanctify the already blighted budget.

All district governments had been restricted by the Punjab government to preparing their non-development budget only. The vital development portfolio was left for Lahore to prepare.

This year’s total budget of Rs5,626.481 million of the CDGR, has earmarked Rs4,211.7 million for current expenditure and a meagre amount of Rs973 million for development expenditure.

It allocates insignificant funds for new development schemes. However, 49 ongoing schemes get Rs217 million under the Annual Development Plan. Even the proposed allocation is subject to availability of funds under the Punjab Finance Commission (PFC) Award for 2008-09.

In his budget speech, delivered amid catcalls from the opposition, City Nazim Raja Javed Ikhlas said that a sum of Rs4,026.228 were allocated by the Punjab government under PFC Award last year but the government provided only Rs3,729.636 million.

Funds allocated for increasing salaries of CDGR employees were not provided to the district government, he said.

The nazim demanded of the government to provide funds for the development of the district and alleged that the new Punjab government was “hell bent on pursuing the politics of vendetta and revenge”.

He announced that Rs200 million will be diverted from the local government office funds to the development budget.

Convenor Afzal Khokkar on the occasion urged the opposition members to calm down and listen to the budget speech. However, they kept on shouting at the city nazim.

At one stage, a scuffle broke out between rival members in which clothes of Nazim of Mora Noori, Raja Irfan, were torn. The mayhem continued for almost two hours.

The opposition members however did not accept the new budget, alleging that it contained no new development scheme and that the city nazim only wanted the approval of ongoing schemes.

They said that they did not know who had prepared the budget and protested that the nazim failed to keep his promise of providing the budget document one week before it was presented for approval.