KARACHI, Aug 3: The Provincial Local Government Commission (PLGC) has asked the union councils of Sindh to carry out audit of their development and non-development expenditures and submit audit reports within seven days.

Reliable sources told PPI on Tuesday that the PLGC took this step following the issuance of a circular by the Auditor-General of Pakistan, asking the union councils to immediately carry out audit work.

There are a total of 1,093 union councils in Sindh, and in Karachi alone there are 178 union councils. Legal action would be taken under SLGO-2001 against those union councils which would not comply with the orders, officials said.

Sources further said that no audit had been done in union councils of Sindh since the inception of devolution plan in 2001 and there are reports of massive irregularities and embezzlement of funds in these local bodies institutions.

No record of development and non-development funds had ever been submitted with the concerned department by union councils despite a passage of about three years. It is worth mentioning that the union councils of Karachi have been receiving two kinds of funds i.e. development funds and funds to meet routine expenses of union councils.

Union councils were to receive Rs57000 per month on account of routine expenses in the first year of devolution plan, Rs78000 in the second year and Rs97000 in the third year. However, these funds have been stopped from February this year and they are working without routine expenses for the last five months.

Union councils of Karachi received Rs3.5 million in fiscal year 2002-03, Rs6.4 million in fiscal 2003-04 and the same amount was also announced in the current budget of the CDGK. -PPI