HARIPUR, June 8: Councillors of different union councils, Tehsil and district councils formed an alliance here on Friday to press for their demands and fight for their own and the constituents’ rights.

The opening meeting of the alliance, convened at Ali Khan village, was attended by a large number of union, Tehsil and district councillors.

The speakers held the Nazims responsible for ignoring them and not taking them into confidence before preparing the budget or development schemes in their areas.

They said that though the Local Government Ordinance, 2001, had made the union councils, particularly the councillors, the epicentre of power, the rights and status of the councillors were yet to be recognized after more than one year of the launch of the local government system.

“We are just made rubber stamps and nothing else,” said Gul Ambreen, a Tehsil councillor, adding that they were not going to be taken for granted by the Nazims any more.

They also criticized their Nazims for not consulting them.

The UC councillors were mostly by-passed by the Nazims or just informed at the eleventh hour about the decisions, which was against the rules, said Younas Dash, a labour councillor.

They discussed problems faced by them and their constituents and impediments in getting them resolved. They were of the view that people had voted them in for getting their works done, but the slow pace of development in the area was robing the new system of its legitimacy and popularity.

Tehsil Councillor Raja Ehtehsam urged the councillors to realize their powers envisaged in the ordinance and act as per the law, which gave unprecedented powers to them.

Eidun Nisa, Gul Ambreen, Tariq Awan, Younas Dosh, Mufti Mehmood and others also spoke.

Later, two bodies at the district and Tehsil level were announced with the consensus of the participants. For the district body, Choudhry Irshad, Mazar Ali Shah, Eidun Nisa and Mehtab Ahmad were elected as office-bearers.