HYDERABAD, June 22: The issue of lapsing development funds is likely to spark a heated debate between Nazims of City, Qasimabad and Latifabad talukas during the district council’s budget session.

Unutilized Annual Development Programme funds for 2002-03 amounting to Rs151 million would lapse by June 30.

The district council budget is to be presented by district Nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzamn on Monday.

Expressing concern over the situation, councillors said that the funds could only be saved from being lapsed by the Sindh government if part payments were made to contractors and tenders for the development schemes were floated in newspapers, making them part of the ‘on-going’ schemes.

They said that it would be a difficult task as contractors had not started the work on these schemes. They said that while funds had been released some time ago, work orders for majority of the uplift schemes had not been issued.

After receiving the work orders, they said, contractor had to start work within the next eight days, meaning contractors would begin work on these scheme on or after June 30.

Documents available with Dawn showed that each of the union council had submitted schemes worth Rs3.7 million on the directives of the district government and each of the union council had allocated the same amount under three heads, namely Khushhal Pakistan Programme, sugar cess and the ADP.

Members of the city and Latifabad taluka councils had expressed resentment when ADP funds were also utilized in the sugar producing areas as there were areas like UC-2, 16 and 19 in the city where the development work depended wholly on ADP funds.

A union council Nazim from Latifabad taluka, Mohammad Yusuf Qureshi, said that the funds should have been transferred to the district government’s account-4 as it was non-lapsable.

In the last budget, the Sindh government had not made any block allocation for Hyderabad and even the release of the ADP funds had been jeopardised by change of the government following general elections.