PESHAWAR: No new development scheme of Peshawar city district government would see light of the day in the ongoing fiscal year as the provincial government has refused to release its share in the development funds.

The issue cropped up during a meeting of the city district council held here on Tuesday and drew immediate condemnation from treasury and opposition members, who threatened to hold next meeting of the council outside Chief Minister’s House in case the government continued with the denial of funds.

The council met with its convener Qasim Ali Shah in the chair.

It is worth mentioning that Peshawar district council had approved an Annual Development Programme (ADP) of Rs686 million in 2071-18 and accordingly the city district government issued tenders for execution of projects as per plan.

However, provincial finance department released only Rs310 million to the council during the year and refused to release the remaining amount. Similarly, during the current fiscal, the district government allocated Rs700 million for ADP but got only Rs350 million from the provincial government. The amount was spent on the leftover work from the previous year.

Councillors protest denial of funds, threaten to hold session outside CM House

The city district government spent Rs350 million on the old schemes though the amount was meant for new projects. Keeping in view the size of the remaining ADP, the city district government planned to spend it on the new schemes as it was expecting that the funds would be released in the third and fourth quarters of the year but it didn’t happen.

After heated debate on the floor of the council against denial of funds, the treasury and opposition members staged a walkout and held protest outside the council hall.

They chanted slogans against the provincial government and said that denial of funds was unacceptable.

Speaking on a point of order, leader of opposition in the council, Advocate Syed Zahir termed denial of development funds injustice with the people of Peshawar.

He said that they would launch civil disobedience movement against the provincial government if it failed to release the funds immediately as all the development works had stopped owing to unavailability of funds.

“We cannot face our voters because they are asking questions about not carrying out developmental activities,” said Mr Zahir.

Taqdir Ali of the ruling PTI said that provincial government should release 30 per cent funds to the local bodies as reflected in the KP Local Government Act, 2013. He said that contractors stopped work on development schemes as they feared that the city district government had no funds to pay them after completion of schemes.

Khalid Waqas of Jamaat-i-Islami also criticised the provincial government and warned to hold the district council’s next meeting outside Chief Minister’s House.

Fazlullah said that work on installation of five water pumps in the government schools was underway. However, he said that contractors stopped work owing to unavailability of funds. He said that the contractors shifted all the equipment from the site putting the councillors in embarrassing situation.

“I haven’t seen such an ineffective local government system,” he said.

Rahamdil Nawaz of PML-N said that people started blaming them for embezzling the funds, which they had not received as there were no development activities on the ground.

He said that contracts for development schemes were already awarded to the contractors but there was no chance of starting work. “If provincial government is not releasing funds then why the city district government is passing the ADP and floating tenders,” he said.

The chair prorogued the session.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2019