PESHAWAR: Amid uproar by the opposition members for having no powers in the new local government system, the Peshawar district council on Friday passed its maiden budget worth Rs7.369 billion with majority for the salaries and non-salary expenditure of the devolved departments for the financial year 2015-16.

Councillors of the three opposition parties – ANP, PPP and PML-N – tore copies of the budget and threw them up while chanting slogans against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf. The enraged councillors left their chairs and gathered in the centre of the council hall.

District Nazim Mohammad Asim Khan tabled the budget in the district council reflecting the salaries and non-salary expenditure of the devolved departments. The council passed the budget with majority as the opposition didn’t vote for approval when the convener of the council, Qasim Ali Shah, put the budget for vote by show of hands.

Of the total annual budget, Rs6.988 billion has been allocated for the salaries of employees of the devolved departments and Rs381 million for the offices’ expenditure. Most of the budget is for the education department, which stands at Rs5.45 billion, according to the budget documents.

Opposition protests lack of powers in new LG system

Presenting the budget, Asim Khan said that the finance department had prepared the budget and sent it to the district council for approval. “We have no role in the formulation of the budget,” he said, adding that it was prepared prior to the establishment of three-tier LG system.

He said that the district council had not yet received the development funds. He said that all efforts would be made to make the capital city developed as it was ignored by the governments in past. He urged the councillors to help him in the beautification of Peshawar.

In the district budget, Rs781.518 million has been allocated for the health sector, Rs236 million for social welfare and special education, Rs209 million for public health engineering, Rs144.4 million for local government, etc.

Earlier, the opposition walked out of the proceeding while chanting slogans “Go Khattak Go” which was responded by the PTI councillors with their favorite slogan “Go Nawaz Go”. The convener made all efforts to restore order in the council’s meeting, but in vain.

The protesting councillors of the opposition parties were wearing black armbands to mark protest while some of them had also displayed banners inside the district council hall. “Empower us”, and “Don’t weaken the local government system” were the main slogans inscribed on the black banners.

The district nazim and a few other councillors went to the protesting councillors to persuade them to come to the hall. The protesting councillors returned to the hall on the commitment of the district nazim to arrange their meeting with the chief minister.

Speaking on a point of order after returning to the hall, PPP councillor and former district naib nazim Razaullah Khan said that district councillors had no powers in the local government system introduced by the PTI-led provincial government.

He said that the PTI councillors also had reservations about the lack of authority, but they were silent as the LG system was introduced by their party.

Opposition leader in the council Syed Zahir advocate said that the abrupt passage of the budget had raised several questions. He said that they were not allowed to debate the budget.

The council also passed a resolution condemning the terrorists attack on the Badabher PAF base camp in which 29 people were killed. The resolution was tabled by Safdar Baghi, which was passed unanimously. The council demanded of the government to probe the tragic incident and also award punishment to those responsible for the security lapse.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd , 2015

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