KP nazims, councillors to receive honoraria, perks of Rs1.55b

Nazim to get Rs40,000, naib nazim Rs30,000, TN Rs30,000,
NC/VC nazim Rs10,000 and Rs7,000 respectively

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Monday submitted a budget of over Rs1.55 billion for the current financial year to the Finance Department for paying honoraria and perks to the nazims and councillors of all tiers of the local bodies in the province.

The Local Government Elections and Rural Development Department (LGE&RDD) after strenuous exercise over the last three months submitted to the Finance Department a break-up of honoraria, POL, entertainment and other allowances of the nazims, members of the district, tehsil, town, village and neighbourhood councils for release of the budget to the assistant directors in the 25 districts of the province.

The Finance Department earlier returned the summary for the approval of honoraria and perks with the observation as to how this could be paid in the absence of relevant rules.However, LGE & RDD later amended the Budget Rules accordingly while the Provincial Finance Commission also agreed to the proposal to pay remunerations to the public representatives.

According to documents available with The News, the financial outlay submitted to the Finance Department for the annual honoraria and allowances of district nazims for the current fiscal will cost Rs24.45 million. It includes monthly honorarium of Rs40,000, 200 litres of petrol, Rs10,000 telephone charges, Rs10,000 entertainment allowance and Rs1,500 per day TA/DA of each nazim of the 25 district.

The TA/DA, however, is permissible per day not exceeding five days a month and only for out of district official travelling.The naib nazim of each district will get Rs30,000 monthly honoraria, 150 litres of petrol, Rs5,000 as telephone charges, Rs7,000 entertainment allowance and Rs1,500 per day as TA/DA. Its total cost for 25 districts comes to Rs18 million.

The naib nazim will have the entitlement of POL in case he is provided an official vehicle.The telephone charges are applicable both on official landline and cellular phones when claimed by the nazim and naib nazim on provision of bills.

About 1,546 members of the district councils in the province will get Rs69.57 million as honoraria, Rs18.55 million as TA/DA for the sessions of 1,000 days collectively. The money needed for the current fiscal on this count is Rs88.12 million.

The nazims of each of the 77 tehsil and town councils will get monthly honoraria of Rs30,000, and 200 litres of petrol, Rs7,000 as telephone charges, Rs8,000 entertainment allowance and Rs1,200 as TA/DA. The naib nazims will receive per month honoraria of Rs20,000 and Rs5,000 each for the payment of telephone bills, entertainment allowance and Rs1,200 as his TA/DA.

An overall amount of Rs9.79 million would be paid to the 1,633 members of the tehsil and town councils for 500 days sessions.

The nazims and naib nazims of 3,501 village and neighbourhood councils will get per month honoraria of Rs10,000 and Rs7,000 respectively, while 44,692 members of these councils will receive Rs402 million as honoraria for 200 days session.

The standard rules of TA/DA are also applicable on councillors and TA/DA to councillors is applicable against each session, total 45 per year. Each session can spread over more than one day.

Only councillors are entitled to receive per diem against the attendance in register maintained by the respective secretary.An official of the Finance Department said the amount would shortly be sent to the assistant directors of the districts for disbursement to the public representatives as their honoraria and perks for their services.