RAWALPINDI: The Rawal and Potohar town municipal administrations are in a state of confusion about the utilisation of their development funds as the Punjab government is yet to hand over the civic bodies to the elected members who won the local government elections on December 5, 2015.

In the absence of the local governments, the bureaucracy finalised the budget for the fiscal year 2016-17 but failed to plan the utilisation of development funds.

A senior official of the Rawal Town Municipal Administration (RTMA) told Dawn that the budget envisaged Rs648 million for development projects in 46 union councils.

He said in the past the provincial government directed the town administrations to get recommendations from PML-N lawmakers and party ticket holders, who lost the elections, in launching development schemes in their respective areas.

In the 2015-16 fiscal year, the RTMA spent more than Rs400 million on the construction of streets, nullahs, drains and roads on the recommendations of the local PML-N leaders.

However, he said after the local government elections, the situation changed as the elected chairmen of the union councils wanted a say in the development schemes.

The official added: “Till clear directions from the provincial government, the RTMA will not launch any development scheme.”

On the other hand, the Potohar Town Municipal Administration (PTMA) is also confused to whom it should consult about the development funds. “In the PTMA, all union councils fall in the constituency of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and MPA Sarfraz Afzal and the former is being consulted on the development works.”

He said after the formation of the local government in the near future, the civic body would be turned into the District Council and the funds would be handed over to the council to spend it across the district.

He said Rs412.687 million had been allocated for the uplift schemes in the union councils of Potohar Town for the year 2016-17.

A senior official of the city district government said it took more than five months for the formation of the local governments. He said the provincial government would issue guidelines in a month or two on how to spend the development funds of the towns. He said the local administration would not carry out any development work without the permission of the district coordination officer and the commissioner.

When contacted, PTI MPA Arif Abbasi said in the 2013 general elections the PML-N lost all the seats of the national and provincial assemblies in the city but the government allocated development funds to the local PML-N leaders who had lost the elections.

“The elected MNAs from the city, Imran Khan and Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, were consulted by the government for the improvement of the areas falling in their constituencies.” But the MPA complained that the Punjab government had not released any development funds to him for over three years.

He said local PML-N leaders were running the affairs of the civic bodies with the help of the bureaucracy. He said there was no check and accountability in Punjab.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2016