MANSEHRA: The nazims have decided to move the Peshawar High Court against the withholding of budgetary allocations in the current financial year for 194 village and neighbourhood councils by the provincial government.

“We have decided to file a petition with the (Peshawar) high court seeking its intervention for the release of our funds withheld since the start of the ongoing financial year,” Nazmeen Ittehad general secretary Basharat Ali Swati told reporters after a meeting of village and neighbourhood council nazims from across the district here on Monday.

The meeting, which was held with Nazmeen Ittehad president Mohammad Fareed in the chair, decided that members of the local bodies in the district would actively participate in the local government convention to be held on March 26.

Mr Swati said members of the district, tehsil and village and neighbourhood councils would force the provincial government into releasing the funds.

Insist local bodies on verge of collapse for having no money

He said the village and neighbourhood councils were on the verge of collapse as the government didn’t give them a single penny from the budgetary allocations since the start of the current fiscal.

“The people have lost confidence in local bodies due to the hurdles created by the provincial government to their smooth functioning especially by withholding funds,” he said.

HOUSES GUTTED: A woman suffered burns as a huge fire gutted two houses in Balla Sadat area of Shinkiari on Sunday night.

The fire, which was reportedly caused by an electric short-circuit, destroyed household goods and other valuables. The people put it out using sand, soil and water.

ONE KILLED: An army soldier was killed in Bagla area of Garhi Habibullah town on Monday.

The people spotted the body of hawaldar Tasawar Hussain at a deserted place and informed the police, which shifted it to the Garhi Habibullah Hospital for postmortem.

The police said the initial investigation revealed that the soldier was killed by the brothers of his estranged wife after having heated exchanges as he went to their place to take her back.

The two fled after the murder. The police booked them and raided many places for their arrest, but to no avail.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2018