Mansehra District Council rejects KP govt fund spending guidelines

MANSEHRA: District Council Mansehra has rejected the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s guidelines to spend Rs420 million funds transferred to district government from its share in Provincial Finance Commission (PFC) award.

The district council that met here on Monday with convener Ghulam Murtaza Tanoli in the chair unanimously adopted a resolution. It asked the provincial government that funds transferred to district government from its share in PFC award should be spent through district council instead of the Planning and Development Department (P&D).

The councillors of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Pakistan People’s Party, Jamaat-i-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl and Qaumi Watan Party raised hands in support of the resolution.  The guidelines, which have been issued to district governments across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said only 25 percent of PFC award money could be spent through district council and remaining 75 percent would go to the education, health, women, agriculture, water and irrigation and supports departments. The Planning and Development Department would earmark share of those departments.

The councillors criticised the federal government for prolonged and unscheduled loadshedding in Mansehra and warned of protest demonstrations in respective union councils if there was no end to the practice.

The councillors also warned heads of devolved public departments to ensure their presence in sessions of district councils. They were asked not to send subordinates to the sessions or else their entry into the council would completely be banned.

PML-N District Nazim Sardar Said Ghulam criticised political parties for not giving due rights to local governments.He said the local government system should be wrapped up if the government was not ready to devolve powers to the local representatives.

“It was the Supreme Court of Pakistan that ensured LG elections in four provinces and federal capital and it should intervene for giving us the powers,” he said.The district nazim said that his district had got an amount of Rs420 million from its share in the PFC award but now provincial government has diverted those funds to P & D, which would transfers those funds to devolved departments.“We would get only 25 percent for the development of all 59 union councils of district as provincial government never wants LG system to flourish in KP,” said the nazim.