MANSHERA, Jan 6: NWFP Chief Secretary Ejaz Qureshi has said that funds for development projects from the centre and provinces and those allocated to members of parliament are taxpayers' money and elected representatives have only to prioritize schemes to be completed through these funds.

He was speaking to nazims and members of parliament of Mansehra district at the New Circuit House here on Thursday.

District nazim Syed Ahmad Hussain Shah, MNA Moulana Abdul Malik, PML leader Sardar Mohammad Yousuf, leader of opposition in NWFP Assembly Shahzada Mohammad Gustasap Khan, MPAs Shujah Salim Khan, Syed Mazhar Ali Qasim and Zar Gul Khan, former provincial minister Habibur Rehman Tanoli and Inspector-General of Police Riffat Pasha spoke on the occasion.

The chief secretary, while endorsing the views of Sahabzada Mohammad Gustasap Khan, said that there was need for a forum where all elected representatives could discuss the problems of their areas and prioritize development schemes for the uniform development of each district of the province.

He said the country was rich in natural resources. It also has skilled manpower and especially NWFP had a great potential for hydel-power which could meet the electricity requirements of the whole country.

He said it was an irony that most of the funds were being wasted on luxuries and non-developmental projects. He said Rs90.7 million had been provided to district governments and Rs600 million to MPAs but these funds were being wasted on small schemes which vanished after some time. If Rs690.7 million was spent on bigger projects, it would be of great benefit to the general public, he added.

Mr Ejaz Quraishi said that some measures had been taken to bring this ongoing tussle between the provincial government and the district governments to an end and in case of malpractices, the district governments had been made accountable to the Local Government Commission.

He said in order to avoid further polarization and wastage of funds, the number of members of a union councils had been reduced from 21 to 13. He said Rs2.9 million development package for the tribal belt of Kala Dhaka would be carried out under various phases and more would be done for the Kala Dhaka but poppy growing in these areas would never be allowed at any cost.