LG reps urge KP govt to release fund

MANSEHRA: The village and neighbourhood councils’ chairmen in Balakot on Thursday demanded the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to release funds meant for the municipal, and social services in their tehsil.

“These village, neighbourhood and tehsil councils at grassroots level are basics to democratic setup and provide civic services to residents settled in areas of their respective jurisdictions. However, we are still without rights and funds even two years after the establishment of these bodies,” Raja Khalid Nawaz, the chairman of Pattan Des Village Council in Kaghan valley, told reporters here.

Flanked by the chairman of the village and neighbourhood council from Balakot tehsil, he said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led provincial government had sidelined the local governments’ representatives and pursued a plan to scrap the LG system in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“Local bodies representatives across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are united, and will thwart any attempt made by the government to wind up this system in the province,” Nawaz said. He said that the local government representatives from Balakot tehsil would join their counterparts in their street agitation planned in the province.