MULTAN, Sept 17: Development work to be carried out under the aegis of the local governments in the Punjab has come to a standstill, as the provincial government is revising the official rates of construction.

This was stated by Multan District Nazim Riaz Husain Qureshi while presiding over a meeting of the district council's Budget and Development Committee. He said like other districts in the province the development activity in Multan had also been affected. However, he asked the union council Nazims to submit proposals for development works in their respective areas so that these could be initiated as soon as the new construction rates were announced.

He directed the UC Nazims to utilize more funds on electrification and the schemes being completed through the Citizen Community Boards. The district government also wanted to do more spending under these heads, he added.

He asked EDO (Finance) Dr Muhammad Aslam to dispatch terms and conditions to all the UC Nazims for the specification of electrification schemes. He also directed that the procedure for the release of funds to the union councils be made simple.

On the issue of raise in the salaries of government officials, the Nazim said it was in fact the responsibility of the provincial government to provide extra funds to the local governments for the payment of 15 per cent raise in the salaries announced by the federal and the provincial governments. However, the district government was giving the raise to the officials through its meagre resources for the time being, he added.

He said but for this the fiscal statement of the district government would have to be amended accordingly and a resolution would be tabled in the house (district council), which could accept or reject the amendments.

The EDO (finance) informed the meeting that some 55 UCs, out of 126, had so far submitted their development schemes. He also said Rs570 million had been earmarked during the ongoing fiscal to carry out development schemes in the district. Of them, Rs150 million would be spent through the CCBs.