MANSEHRA, Sept 7: The provincial government has asked the DCO Mansehra to submit a report on the noisy protest witnessed in the budget session of the district council Mansehra on August 16 and the validity of the budget passed for the year 2003-2004.

The government has taken the action on the application of Nazim of Union Council Inayatabad, Sajjad Ahmed Piracha.

It may be mentioned that district Nazim Syed Ahmad Hussain Shah and district Naib Nazim Syed Abdulber Shah Sherazi who were elected in the by-election on July 14 do not enjoy the support of majority in the house of 80.

Syed Ahmad Husain Shah had contested the elections from the panel of former senator Syed Qasim Shah. Syed Qasim Shah, after losing elections had nominated Sajjad Ahmad Piracha as the leader of his group which enjoys majority in the district council.

Syed Ahmed Hussain Shah after holding a number of meetings with the Sajjad Piracha group reached an agreement over the passage of the budget for the year 2003-2004.

Under the agreement, it was decided the district Nazim would deliver his budget speech on August 16 and the copies of the budget would be distributed among the district council members same day.

It was also agreed that the budget would be passed unanimously on August 18 after discussion by the members.

An agenda for the budget session was handed over to the members on August 16.

However, in the budget session on August 16, presiding officer Syed Abdulber Shah Sherazi, after the budget speech of the district Nazim, said that the budget had been passed and adjourned the session. This led to a rumpus in the house as the members belonging to the Sajjad Piracha group started protesting against the attitude of Abdulber Shah.

They alleged that the agenda of the budget session had been violated by Mr Shah by denying members an opportunity to discuss the budget. They later marched to the DCO office and handed him a memorandum. The DCO, Hussain Zada Khan, reported the matter to the provincial government on which he had been asked to submit a detailed report about the whole episode.

The matter, however did not end here. Rowdyism was witnessed in yet another session of the district council held on August 30 when members of the Sajjad Piracha group alleged that convener Syed Abdulber Shah Sherazi had started proceedings of the session without fulfilling the requirement of quorum.

The tug of war is still going on between the two families of Kaghan valley. The ultimate losers in this case seem to be 1.4 million people of the Mansehra district as all development works and other business of the district council have come to a standstill due to their rivalry.

GIRL SHOT DEAD: A young girl was shot dead by her brother in the Oghi tehsil on Saturday.