RAWALPINDI, June 17: The Punjab government has approved 44.2 per cent increase in the union councils’ monthly grant from next fiscal year, an official of the local government said on Monday.

Speaking to officials of the local government here, the director-general, Local Governments, Col (Rtd) Mohammad Shahbaz, said the union councils, which were previously getting Rs43,000 each, would now get Rs62,000. This fund is supposed to be utilized for development purposes.

He said the amount had been enhanced so that union council members could undertake development work according to their own priorities.

Even during the existing fiscal year, the share of each union council was Rs62,000 per month, but the UCs were paid Rs43,000 each after deducting salaries of the defunct octroi staff from the grant.

The UC Nazimeen had continuously campaigned for stopping this deduction, which they contended was against the Local Government Ordinance.

The director-general clarified that the local government funds would not lapse with the end of the fiscal year as was the case with most government funds. He said the funds could even be used after June 30 and the development projects which were underway could be completed with this money.

He said the Punjab government had issued a notification to sort out the ambiguity concerning the salaries of the staff transferred to the district government following devolution.

He said officers and other employees of the district government would continue to get salaries as in the past. He said these directives would be applicable to all employees irrespective of their posting.

Referring to the problem of absence of explicit instruction on certain matters falling in the jurisdiction of the union councils, Col Shahbaz said the UCs could overcome this lacuna by passing the required rules in the form of a resolution in the council and subsequently sending it to the Tehsil council for ratification.

He directed the Tehsil municipal administrations to arrange monthly training of its staff, particularly in accounts and finance matters, so that the new system could be run smoothly.

Later, speaking at a separate meeting with the union council secretaries, he said a proposal had been moved with the provincial government for enhancing the payscales of the UC secretaries from BPS 5 to BPS 11.

He urged the secretaries to work wholeheartedly, and said those who failed to do so would be taken to task. He asked them to be cautious in financial matters and not to come under any political pressure.