MULTAN, Nov 21: Officials of various departments of the district government are unanimous that the delay in the release of funds is the real cause of their failure to achieve their respective targets.

District Nazim Mian Fasial Mukhtar in an official letter sent to District Coordination Officer Fazeel Asghar a few days ago had held responsible officials’ attitude for letting down the district government because of their failure to achieve targets assigned to them.

Deputy Managing Director of Wasa Malik Tassaduq Hussain said that the agency was not liable for any delay in the ongoing projects.

He said it was the P&D and Finance Department which was to be blamed because it did not release Rs260 million funds needed for the completion of various projects.

He said that contractors had stopped work on all projects owing to unavailability of funds while the department concerned was reminded frequently in this regard, but to no avail. Mr Hussain said the matter had now come to the knowledge of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and he had directed the departments concerned to furnish him a summary within three days regarding the delay in the release of funds.

He said that Wasa would complete all ongoing projects within two months provided the funds were released.

District Officer (Agriculture) Zulfiqar Wahla said although the district nazim’s letter put blame on the agriculture department for its failure to organize the yield competition among farmers, the fact was that the district government did not release funds for this purpose. “How can the results be achieved when the funds promised are not released”, he questioned.

He said that work on the project of off-season vegetable production through tunnel farming could not be started because it was decided in a departmental development committee meeting that these tunnels would be installed on state land farms instead of farmers’ land while the district government had yet to release funds for this purpose.

District Officer (Sports) Chaudhry Muhammad Sadiq said that the installation of floodlights in the hockey stadium was the job of the buildings department, which was working on the project.

He said that sports calendars had been prepared and would be sent to the district nazim within a week.

District Officer of Parks and Gardens Mudassir Shaukat said the district nazim had himself planted several saplings during the monsoon tree plantation campaign in Ramazan.

He said that all those parks of the city were in the first-rate condition where the district government had spent money.

EDO Works and Services Rana Ghaus said that years needed for the completion of the projects if funds were to release in years.

He, however, said that all the available funds would be utilized till the end of the fiscal year, but the projects could only be completed if funds were released timely.

EDO Health Iftikhar Ahmed Qureshi refused to offer any comment.