MANSEHRA: District nazim Sardar Said Ghulam has insisted that the delay in the approval of the council’s budget has led to the suspension of work on development schemes in Mansehra and non-payment of salary to the officials of the devolved departments.

“As the budget hasn’t been approved yet, work on our development schemes has been withheld, while payments to devolved departments, including those for salary of employees, also stand suspended,” he told reporters here on Tuesday.

The district council had ‘approved’ a tax-free Rs9.21 billion budget after 49 members of the 54-strong house voted for it last month.

Officials too not paid salary, says nazim

However, assistant director (local government) Shoaib Khan had moved the director general of his department in Peshawar seeking his advice on the matter after opposition leader in the council Shahid Rafiq insisted that the budget could be considered approved only if two thirds of the house’s total members approved it.

The AD also pointed out that the budget was passed in hurry without debate and therefore, it didn’t stand approved.

The nazim, who belongs to the PML-N, claimed that the budget was approved by the council but the assistant director (LG) had made it controversial to support the PTI-led opposition.

He said until the budget wasn’t approved by the local government department, the district government won’t pay ‘operation charges’ to the devolved departments.

“The presentation of this year’s budget was first delayed by the ban imposed by the Election Commission of Pakistan ahead of the July 25 general elections and now, if it is delayed further, the performance of local governments and devolved departments will be badly affected,” he said.

The nazim warned that if the budget was not approved by the local government department, then his government would move the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Commission for relief.

ACCIDENT KILLS THREE: A man and his two sons were killed when their car plunged into a ravine in Muttamundaz area of Lower Kohistan early on Tuesday.

The accident occurred after driver Mazoob Khan lost control of the car bound for Pattan.

The local residents shifted the bodies to a nearby hospital. The local police registered FIR and began investigation to ascertain the exact cause of the accident.

TREE PLANTATION: District and sessions judge Kaleem Arshad Khan on Tuesday inaugurated a tree plantation campaign here.

He planted a sapling on the premises of the district courts in the presence of Judicial Commission of Pakistan member Shahjehan Khan Swati, district bar association president Basharat Abid Khan and provincial bar council member Fida Mohammad Khan and noted lawyers.

The judge said saplings would be planted on the court premises in Mansehra, Balakot and Oghi.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2018