KARACHI: Questioning the performance of local governments across Sindh and raising concern about their financial management, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Sindh Assembly on Monday warned that local councils would face accountability if they failed to utilise tax money for public welfare.

PAC Chairman Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, who is also the PPP’s Sindh president, warned that local councils would face accountability if they failed to utilise tax money for public welfare.

“Why should the Sindh government bear the burden of blame?” he questioned, pointing out that the provincial government allocated Rs168 billion annually to these bodies for the people’s welfare.

The PAC meeting reviewed the audit reports of the local councils of Sukkur Division for the years 2022 and 2023.

Khuhro says local councils spend less than 30pc of funds on development works

The committee expressed concern over the performance of all local councils, including UCs, town and municipal committees, and municipal corporations across the province, and sought a monthly report on the use of Octroi Zilla Tax (OZT) funds from all local councils.

The PAC, which reviews financial records of government departments to detect irregularities and enhance transparency in governance, also directed the provincial finance department and the LG department not to release OZT funds to local councils that did not submit monthly reports on the use of the funds.

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Mr Khuhro said that the Sindh government was providing Rs168bn annually to local councils across the province as OZT, but nothing was known about where and how the local councils were spending this money.

He said that the released OZT funds included a development budget of Rs80bn. “However, local councils are not spending even 30 per cent of the Rs168bn OZT funds on development works, due to which the public is raising questions about their performance,” he added.

“Municipal corporations are being provided with Rs100m to Rs120m per month, municipal and town committees with Rs20m to Rs25m per month, and UCs with Rs1m to Rs1.2m per month. However, the local councils are not reporting the use of the funds to anyone. The local councils will have to be accountable,” he snapped.

The PAC ordered the regional directors of the LG department to inspect the local councils of their respective divisions.

It also directed the LG department to computerise the records of employees of all local councils across Sindh and to conduct biometrics of employees.

The PAC further ordered the suspension of the chief municipal officer of the Gambat Municipal Committee for not depositing Rs7m in sales tax into the government treasury.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2025