Mayor says budget suspension hampering uplift work

PESHAWAR: Mayor Capital Metropolitan Government Zubair Ali on Wednesday said the people were facing a host of problems but the provincial government had suspended the budgets of the local councils, which was a mockery of the public mandate.

Talking to reporters at the Peshawar High Court here, he said the elected representatives at the local level were confident that the court would put an end to these unconstitutional practices and provide justice to the people. Mayors from other districts, including Himayatullah Mayar, Inayatullah, Rafiullah, Maulana Shah Zameen, Taj Maluk Khan, Muhammad Tahir, Shah Khalid, Ihsanullah, Bahadur Khan, Azizullah and others were also present.

Zubair Ali said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had usurped the rights of the local governments enshrined in the Article 37 and 140 of the Constitution.

He said the government had promised to provide facilities to the people at doorstep but it deprived the local government of financial powers, which had unmasked its intention.

He said the government after suffering a humiliating defeat in the local government election did not honour its promise.

The mayor added the amendments to the local government laws did not favour the people as these were aimed to protect the interests of the ruling party.

He said the local governments had passed two budgets, which would have undertaken projects to provide basic facilities to the people but these were suspended by the government.

He said uplift projects were included in the recent budget to provide facilities to the people but the provincial government did not want the LG representatives to serve the electorate.

Speaking on the occasion, Himayatullah Mayar said three writ petitions had been filed against the amendments.