HARIPUR: More than 30 members of the district council on Thursday tabled a no confidence motion against the nazim following heated exchanges here.

The motion is likely to be put to vote within a week under the Local Government Ordinance.

It is the third time that a no confidence motion was tabled against the nazim.

However, they’d withdrawn motion on the last two occasions after patching up things with the nazim. The council met after a break of five months with convener Agha Shabbir in the chair.

The PTI members pointed out the long delay in the convening of the session and asked nazim Adil Islam to explain position on it.

Thereafter, the nazim and members Riaz Danish, Sikandar Hayat and Taimoor Haider Shah had heated exchanges.

The councillors called the nazim incompetent and lazy. They were joined by other members, who called for the resignation of both convener and nazim.

Convener Agha Shabbir announced that he was ready to resign immediately.

However, the nazim said he would step down only after the July 25 general elections were held. The councillors shouted slogans against the nazim.

Later, 31 of the total 69 councillors signed a no confidence motion against the nazim and submitted it to the convener and local government deputy director.

Officials said the session for voting on the motion was likely to be called on July 3.

Councillor Asif Ali Jah accused the nazim of violating the Local Government Ordinance and delaying the council. He said the council’s session should be held at least once a month.

He also alleged that the nazim hampered development work in the district.

When contacted, the nazim alleged that some hidden elements continued to throw spanner in works in the district.

He said whenever he had tried to check corrupt practices of some councillors and officials, his detractors got a no confidence motion tabled against him.

The nazim claimed that the motion would fail as he enjoyed the support of majority of councillors.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2018