RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has approved Rs295 million for each of the nine provincial and six National Assembly constituencies in the district won by the ruling coalition.

An amount of Rs700 million for each constituency will be provided in the second quarter of the fiscal year.

A senior official of the local government and community development department told Dawn that the government had sought development schemes from PML-N and PPP lawmakers from the district worth Rs1 billion each. However, it also asked for prioritising schemes worth Rs295 million in the first phase.

He said in the last four months, the PML-N and PPP lawmakers contacted the Punjab government for development works in their constituencies.

Official says Rs700m each will be provided to PML-N, PPP lawmakers in second quarter of fiscal year

There are a total of 13 seats of the Punjab Assembly in the district and the PML-N won nine of them while the Sunni Ittehad Council grabbed three seats. One seat was won by Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen.

Out of the six seats of the National Assembly, the PML-N won five and one seat was grabbed by the PPP.

Interestingly, MPAs from the opposition parties were not included in the development work.

A senior leader of the PML-N told Dawn that party workers and supporters had been worried for the last four months as the provincial government failed to launch any development work in the garrison city and the district.

He said in the past the provincial government had provided maximum funds for the garrison city but this time it was ignored. He said there was no harm in distributing funds among all the constituencies equally but the government had to do more as the PML-N had returned to power after a gap of five years.

He said instead of old faces of the party from the city, the government brought to the front leaders from the peripheries which let down the local leaders. Moreover, Rawalpindi district has no representation in the provincial and federal cabinets.

On the other hand, opposition lawmakers said their constituencies had been neglected in development works.

“We are not consulted and we do not expect anything from this form 47 government in Punjab and the centre,” said MPA from PP-13 Malik Fahad Masood while talking to Dawn.

He said the opposition would carry out development work in their constituencies after coming to power. He said at present their priority is to secure the rights of people and democracy in the country.

“We would continue to raise our voice against the illegal actions and wrong policies of the federal and Punjab governments,” he added.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2024