RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has asked the Punjab government to pay back the amount deducted from its share of Octroi for between January and June last year due to financial constraints.

The provincial government has not released monthly instalments for five months, which was an alternative to previous Octroi deductions, despite repeated requests. The RCB has therefore stopped development schemes in various areas due to the non-availability of funds.

Octroi is a duty levied on various goods entering a town or city. In 1999, the PML-N led federal government had abolished Octroi and Zila Tax (OZT) and increased general sales tax (GST) from 12.5pc to 15pc. After this, the federal government provided funds to provincial governments to distribute the 2.5pc share of districts against OZT.

Under this scheme, the RCB got Rs240 million annually from the Punjab government. The funds were released as monthly instalments of Rs20 million. However, the provincial government has not released these funds between Aug 2017 and Jan 2018 and it did not pay back 12.5pc from monthly instalments from Jan 2017 to June 2017.

The monthly instalments have not been paid for five months due to which many projects have been delayed

A senior RCB official told Dawn on Wednesday that the provincial government had to pay Rs100 million to the RCB in place of previous Octroi. He said the RCB had planned to launch water schemes and projects for the construction of roads in different parts of the cantonment in January but could not do so as it had not been paid its share from Octroi by the Punjab government.

He said the RCB has Rs20 million available at present but it wants to start Rs120 million worth of development schemes in various parts of the cantonment. He said if the works did not start soon, it would be difficult to complete the water supply schemes before the start of summer.

He said the RCB has written letters to the Punjab Finance Department which has neither released the money nor has it replied to the letters. The official said the RCB has also contacted elected PML-N members for helping in the matter.

The official explained that the financial cut was imposed by the Punjab government to complete its development works but it was not authorised to impose a cut on the share of civic bodies.

RCB spokesperson Qaiser Mehmood said Cantonment Executive Officer Dr Saima Shah will meet with the Punjab finance minister to discuss the issue.

He said the RCB has been unable to start new development schemes- including the laying of new water supply lines, the installation of filtration plants, reconstruction of roads and streets- due to the delay in the payment of monthly instalments.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2018