District council approves Rs7.369b budget amidst opposition protest

PESHAWAR: Amidst strong protest by the combined opposition councillors, the Peshawar District Council on Friday passed the non-development budget with a total outlay of Rs 7.369 billion.
The budget session was held here with District Naib Nazim Syed Qasim Ali Shah in the chair. District Nazim Muhammad Asim Khan presented the budget for the session 2015-16 which was approved though the combined opposition members did not take part in the voting process.
The opposition members had come to the House with black arm bands and having some banners inscribed with slogans seeking powers and rules for the Local Governments and its representatives.
At the outset of the meeting, the opposition councillors staged walkout from the session. They were led by Razaullah Khan of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Rahamdil Khan of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Zahid Advocate of Awami National Party (ANP) and others.
They chanted slogans to press the provincial government to delegate powers to the different tiers of the local governments and the elected councillors.
District Nazim Mohammad Asim accompanied by a few councillors managed to calm down the protesting councillors and bring them back to the House. However, the opposition councillors refrained from voting after the budget was presented before the House. The voting took place through show of hand.
The district nazim in his brief speech made it clear that the budget was prepared by the provincial Finance Department before the formation of the district government. He said that it was just a non-development budget meant for the salaries of the officials and employees of different departments under the district administration and office expenses. He clarified that no amount for development projects was included in it.
He said Rs6.988 billion in the budget was meant for salaries and the remaining Rs381 million for office expenses. He added that the funds would be released by the provincial government gradually under the prescribed formula and instructions.
The district nazim said that no funds for development purposes could be issued to the district government. “Also, no development project could be mentioned in the budget. Our proposals have not been included in the budget,” he pointed out.
Sources said it is too early for the recently formed district government to prepare a full-fledged budget showing complete data of receipts and expenditures besides details of development and non-development expenditure.