PESHAWAR: The provincial finance department has released an amount of Rs7.204 billion to the three tiers of the local government, including district, tehsil/town and village/neighborhood councils, to carry out development schemes.

A statement issued here said the amount had been immediately transferred to the accounts of the concerned councils.

The finance department, through three separate notifications issued here on Friday, released a major chunk of Rs2.783 billion to the village and neighborhood councils, and Rs2.210 billion each to the district and tehsil/town administrations, respectively.

The statement said the finance department released the grants to the local government for the first quarter of the financial year, starting on July 1, under the Provincial Finance Commission without any discrimination.

It clarified that even political or administrative problems did not delay release of the funds to ensure that development process continued unhampered.

Meanwhile, Provincial Finance Minister Muzaffar Said praised his department for timely release of development funds to the district, tehsil and village/neighborhood councils.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2016