HYDERABAD, June 25: The members of the district council belonging to the Awam Dost Panel (ADP) rejected the district government budget while boycotting the budget session of the council Monday on the ground that they are being constantly ignored by the district nazim.

As District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil started reading budget speech,

Yamin Soomro of the ADP rose from the seat to raise objections on the budget proposals. After boycotting the session, the ADP members staged a sit-in outside the council building amidst rain.

Talking to journalists, they said that union council nazims not belonging to the dominant group in the council were not being given development schemes.

“We don't have any funds for our union councils and a vast majority of people does not have access to safe drinking water in the urban and rural areas. On the other hand, unnecessary expenditures are being made on the district council's hall and the convener's office,” argued Mr Soomro, who belongs to a union council in Qasimabad taluka.

He said that there was an acute shortage of water in his area and asked why funds were not being released to the nazims not belonging to the majority group in the district council. “Development works are being carried out on the advice of sector in-charges of a political party”, said Mr Soomro.

Abbas Khan, the nazim of a Latifabad taluka union council, backed Mr Soomro’s contention, saying that development works were not being carried out in consultation with UC nazims concerned and, instead, sector in-charges of a political party were fixing priorities for such works.

He said that development schemes for an old village in his UC remained in doldrums and called for taking the UC nazims on board on development schemes.

Mr Khan said that details of the funds for the governor’s development package for the city were not available.

Mehboob Abro, also a UC nazim from Qasimabad, said that there was no use of attending the budget session as 18 months had been passed to the inception of the district government but no development work had been completed in the taluka.

He said that those people who had lost elections were given preference over elected members for identifying schemes.

Mr Abro added that last year Rs50 million were earmarked for upgradation of Rani Bagh but no work could be witnessed there. This year, he added, Rs70 million had been earmarked for the same purpose but only Rs0.4 million had been utilised.

He said that there were several areas in his UC where people were getting water through tankers.