RAWALPINDI, June 16: The Rawal Town Municipal Administration (RTMA) is in a catch 22 situation as it is uncertain about how to spend funds despite their availability.

During the last tenure of the Pakistan Muslim League-N government in Punjab, the civic body had been directed to consult all members of the parliament and get their proposals to launch uplift schemes in 46 union councils of the garrison city.

However, the PML-N lost five provincial and two national assembly seats in the May 11 elections from these union councils, and the city administrators are now worried whether funds would be allocated for development schemes as proposed by the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) MPAs and MNAs.

A senior RTMA official told Dawn on Sunday that the civic body had sought the provincial government’s help on whether elected MNAs including Imran Khan and Sheikh Rashid Ahmed would be taken on board during the planning of development schemes.

He said in the 2008 elections, six PML-N MNAs and 12 MPAs had been elected from the district. Of these MNAs Malik Shakeel Awan (NA-55) and Hanif Abbasi (NA-56), and MPAs Shaharyar Riaz (PP-12), Malik Ghulam Raza (PP-13), Raja Hanif Advocate (PP-14) and Ziaullah Shah (PP-11) had been elected from the 46 union councils of Rawal Town.

“All these members of parliament and the PML-N City President Sardar Naseem had been allocated Rs20 million each year for development schemes in the past five years,” he said.

He said this year, the RTMA was preparing the fiscal budget 2013-14 and had set aside Rs300 million for development schemes in the city.

“The development schemes will start after getting the approval of the provincial government,” the official said.

He said the civic body may announce the budget after the provincial government’s annual budget was declared, and development schemes would ideally be launched on a need basis.

The RTMA official said in the 2012-13 fiscal year, Rs300 million had been spent on 253 development schemes proposed by the MNAs, MPAs and the PML-N city president.

The RTMA had launched 32 development schemes proposed by Hanif Abbasi, 31 schemes by Malik Shakeel Awan, 44 schemes by Ziaullah Shah, 40 schemes by Shaharyar Riaz, 18 schemes by Malik Ghulam Raza and 40 schemes by Raja Muhammad Hanif.

A PML-N leader, requesting anonymity, told Dawn that the local bodies elections was expected in the province and the PML-N led Punjab government would start its campaign with the help of civic bodies under its control.

He said the PML-N local leaders had requested the provincial government to start development works in different areas before the election commission stopped them from carrying on uplift schemes ahead of the local government elections.

“We will continue working for the people even though our party lost the general elections. The PML-N government, through its civic agencies, has launched development works based on the suggestions of former MNAs and MPAs,” said former MNA Malik Shakil Awan while talking to Dawn.

He said all civic agencies came under the jurisdiction of the Punjab government and would continue the policy of uplift schemes.

Rawal Town Acting Administrator Zahid Suhail was not available for comments despite repeated attempts.

When contacted, RTMA Town Officer Finance Raja Iftikhar said the budget for the fiscal year 2013-14 was in its final stages. He said the government had not given any clear directives about launching development schemes in the next fiscal year.

“It will soon give its policy, but one thing is clear: launching development schemes based on the recommendations of MNAs and MPAs would not be possible this time as the local political scene has changed,” he said.