Non-release of uplift funds: LG reps in KP to stage sit-in outside Adiala Jail

MANSEHRA: The representatives of local governments in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday announced to stage a sit-in outside the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi to protest the denial of development funds and powers granted under the relevant act.

“We have decided to stage a sit-in outside the Adiala Jail where Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s founding chairman Imran Khan is confined,” Basharat Ali Swati, the general secretary of Local Government Ittehad, told a press conference here.

He said a meeting of village and neighbourhood council chairmen was held here, and the decision taken by the provincial body for street agitation during its gathering in Peshawar earlier this week was endorsed.

“Three years have passed since the installation of local governments in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but we are still without funds and the rights enshrined in the Local Government Act 2013,” Swati said.

He added that the representatives of the local governments from across the district and the rest of the province would gather outside the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on December 17 to stage a sit-in.

“We want to convey our grievances to the jailed PTI founding chairman Imran Khan who once declared the grassroots system the backbone of democracy, but his party has failed to accept and release the funds for local governments,” Swati said.

The general secretary of Local Government Ittehad said they would also hold talks with the federal finance minister on December 18 urging him to transfer the 20 per cent share of the local governments directly under the National Finance Commission (NFC) award.

“The provincial government is legally bound to transfer 20 percent of its Provincial Finance Commission award’s share to the local governments. We

will persuade the federal government to ensure this amount is directly allocated to the local governments throughout the province,” Swati said.