PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's (KP) ministry for local governments (LG) has proposed that 70 per cent of the province's development budget 2015-2016, earmarked for LG, be utilised for paying allowances and salaries of elected LG officials.

Of the Rs144.42 billion budgeted outlay for LG in KP, an amount of Rs102.38bn has been proposed for the payment of LG salaries and allowances, a document acquired by DawnNews reveals.

This leaves a Rs42.04bn ─ or 30pc of the budgeted amount of Rs144.42bn ─ to be devolved to LG for development in the province.

The proposal was submitted by the KP ministry for local governments headed by senior provincial minister Inayatullah of the Jamaat-i-Islami and is currently pending approval of Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak.

The allocation of 30pc of the KP budget to local governments had been lauded as a 'revolutionary move' at a time when the Sindh and Punjab governments had both presented what appeared to be run-of-the-mill budgets.