RAWALPINDI: Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has sought financial assistance from the Punjab government for development schemes, especially for the repair of streetlights and reconstruction of roads.

The RCB comes under the administrative control of the federal government and does not get funds from the provincial government.However, it has requested the Punjab government to provide it Rs100 million for the uplift schemes.

A senior official of RCB told Dawn that two constituencies of National Assembly (NA-61 and parts of NA-62) and four of the Punjab assemblies fall in the cantonment limits and the Punjab government should provide funds to the MPAs for development of the constituencies.

He said all the six national and provincial assembly members from the area belonged to the PTI which was in power in Punjab and the lawmakers were in a position to get funds from the provincial government.

It may be mentioned that no mega project was launch in the cantonment areas during the last four years. The condition of roads in the area has deteriorated due to lack of maintenance by the cash-starved civic agency.

The provincial government wanted to launch a project to make the road from Katcheri Chowk to Motorway Chowk single-free in the limits of cantonment areas but had to postponed it till the next year due to the shortage of funds.

The provincial government did not release funds for any schemes in the cantonment during the last four years. However, in its short tenure, the PML-N-led government had planned a number of uplift works but these could not be started after change of the government last month.

When contacted, Cantonment Executive Officer Imran Gulzar said the RCB had not approached the Punjab government but requested the area MPAs to arrange funds from the provincial government.

He said the RCB had allocated Rs190 million for development schemes in the financial year 2022-23 and already spent Rs50 million on the construction of roads, streets, footpaths and laying water supply lines.

He said the civic body lacked funds to carry out development work in all the 10 wards. The RCB provided funds for differentschemesinDhoke Mustaqeem, Attaul Haq Road, Chairing Cross to Allahabad and adjoining areas.

To a question, he admitted that the RCB would not get direct funds from the provincial government as the cantonment areas fell under the administrative control of the federal government.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2022