BAJAUR/CHARSADDA: Local government representatives on Monday staged demonstrations to demand ‘powers’ and funds.
A protest was held outside the Bajaur Press Club and attended by scores of village and neighbourhood council chairmen, general, youth, kisan, women and minority councillors.
Holding banners and placards inscribed with different slogans, they condemned changes to the local government law by the provincial government, curtailing their powers. They also chanted slogans against the provincial government for depriving them of their rights.
Khar tehsil council chairman Haji Said Badshah, Sadiqabad neighbourhood council chairman Haji Akbar Jan, Khar neighbourhood council chairman Anwar Hussain, Agra village council chairman Malik Abdul Wali Khan, minority councillor Shabbir Masih and others addressed the rally.
The speakers criticised the provincial government for not giving powers and funds to them despite passage of about one year since the local body elections were held.
They described the prolonged delay in provision of funds an attempt by the provincial government to weaken the local government system. They said introduction of local government system was part of the 25th Constitutional Amendment, under which the former Fata was merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the people had enthusiastically participated in the elections held on December 19, 2021.
However, they deplored the unnecessary delay empowering the LB representatives had disappointed the local residents. They alleged neither the district administration nor any other department was taking them on board in any development activities.
The LB members demanded of the government to restore their powers, fix their monthly salaries and release development funds with immediate effect.
Meanwhile, the chairmen of Charsadda, Shabqadar and Tangi tehsil councils and councillors staged a sit-in outside the deputy commissioner’s office against delay in release of funds to them.
The protest was led by Charsadda tehsil chairman Mufti Abdur Rauf Shakir, Tangi tehsil chairman Fayyaz Ali and Shabqadar tehsil chairman Hamza Asif. Before the sit-in outside the DC office, the protesters marched through various roads, chanting slogans against the provincial government.
They asked the government to release funds to local bodies because voters had attached great expectations to them. They alleged the government was bent upon clipping powers of the local bodies.
Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2022