HYDERABAD, Sept 5: Some hidden hands appear to be behind an inordinate delay in the release of funds for the Hyderabad Development Package.

This was stated by the president of the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Emad Siddiqui, while talking to a delegation of traders and industrialists at the chamber's secretariat here on Saturday.

He said a year had passed but neither a project director nor a consultant had been appointed to take initial steps with regard to the HDP. He claimed that till June 2004 the tax-payers of the district had paid federal taxes to the tune of Rs19.5 billion.

He said that keeping in view the contribution of Hyderabad's tax-payers, the package of Rs10.5 billion for the district was not much. He said the prime minister had only recently announced a development package of Rs12 billion for Tharparkar on which the work has already started.

He appealed to the president and the prime minister to appreciate the genuine demands of people of the district and direct that work on the Hyderabad Development Package be started on a war footing.