SARGODHA, June 25: The budget meeting of the district council ended inconclusive here on Friday, as the house was divided into two groups.

District Nazim Malik Amjad Ali Noon headed one group while the other was led by Naib Nazim Chaudhry Hamid Saleem Warriach, who is also the convener. The meeting was adjourned for June 29.

Despite announcement of adjournment, the Nazim continued his speech and claimed that the budget for 2004-05 had been approved by a majority of members in the house.

When the proceedings of the budget started at the Jinnah Hall, the convener invited the Nazim to present the budget. However, hardly had the Nazim started presenting the budget, the members (of the rival group) raised hue and cry and some of them even surrounded him. Fearing turmoil, the convener adjourned the meeting.

However, the supporters of the Nazim asked him to present the budget and the latter kept speaking. They also distributed booklets containing details of the proposed budget, which their rivals tore apart.

Information gleaned by this correspondent revealed that the council had announced a surplus budget of Rs2,469 million - Rs2,231 million for expenditure and Rs238 million for development. The Nazim claimed that the Punjab Finance Commission had allocated Rs2,442 million as interim award.

Later, Naib Nazim Chaudhry Saleem said at a press conference that he had adjourned the proceedings of the meeting because the members had literally come to blows. He said the budget was not accepted and, therefore, the next meeting would be held on Tuesday.

He alleged that the Nazim had deputed three men, who had caused a huge loss to the district government by their corrupt practices. He said he had informed the Nazim about corruption of his cronies, but the latter turned a deaf ear to the plea.

He also accused the Nazim of distributing funds only among his favourites, and claimed that he had refused to become tool in his hands.

When contacted, he Nazim said he got signatures of the members of the council after adjournment of the meeting, claiming that 123 members had supported the budget and only 46 opposed it. The rest remained impartial.

He denied the allegation levelled by the Naib Nazim that he had gathered irrelevant people instead of members to get the budget passed. He said the opposition members raised hue and cry and also rushed to the rostrum to stop him from making speech on the instigation of the elected representatives.

It is pertinent to mention that the members of both groups gathered at the residence (circuit house) of the Nazim and Naib Nazim in the morning.

The Nazim said 181 members participated at the meeting, out of which 123 supported the budget. But the Naib Nazim claimed support of 150 members, out of 224.

The Nazim said the budget had been passed by a majority, therefore, the meeting convened for Tuesday was illegal.