GILGIT, Oct 4: Northern Areas Legislative Council (NALC) members on Thursday criticized the budget for 2001-02, presented by Fida Mohammad Nashad, the deputy chief executive of NAs on Monday.

The members said the budget was presented by NAs Chief Executive Abbas Sarfraz two months ago with the help of Islamabad-based bureaucrats and no member of the council was consulted. They said there was no justification for seeking their approval for the budget as half of its amount had already been spent under various heads.

In the fifth meeting of the eighth session of the council, majority of the members, including Mohammad Ismail, Wazir Beg, Janbaz Khan, Ghulam Ali Haideri, Qurban Ali, Pir Karam Ali Shah, Haji Amir Jan, Syed Mehdi Shah and Syed Jafar Shah, bitterly criticized the budget and said it amounted to making a mockery of the council to seek its approval when half of the budget had already been spent.

The budget has an outlay of Rs3.22 billion, of which around Rs1.22 billion have been earmarked for the development expenditures and Rs2 billion for current expenditures.

The members also asked the government to consult them on the annual development programmes (ADP).

The deputy chief executive reminded the members that their role had been minimized in the ADP through Legal Framework Order (LFO), 2000.