KP govt denies Rs43 billion funds to local bodies.

Byline: Mohammad Ashfaq

PESHAWAR -- The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has denied Rs43 billion funds meant for the development activities of local bodies in the outgoing fiscal, violating KP Local Government Act, 2013, according to official documents.

In the financial year 2019-20, the share of the local bodies in the development funds was Rs46 billion fixed by the Provincial Financial Commission (PFC) in view of the local bodies law.

However, the documents reveal, the provincial government released only Rs3 billion.

Sources in local government department told Dawn that owing to denial of the funds, new developmental scheme couldn't be launched in the three tiers of local government system including district, tehsil and village and neighbourhood councils.

Section 53 of the KPLGA states: 'In addition to the establishment charges budgeted for the devolved functions and transfers in lieu of Octroi and Zilla taxes, the development grant for local governments shall be so determined that it is not less than thirty percent of the total development budget of the province in the respective year.'

Minister says councils not in place after completion of tenure

The provincial share in the ADP for the outgoing financial year was Rs153 billion out of which PFC fixed the local bodies funds for development at Rs46 billion.

Sources said that the released Rs3 billion funds were purely meant for the important ongoing schemes and not for the new ones.

Minister for Finance Taimur Saleem Jhagra, when contacted, said that there were no elected local government representatives after completion of the tenure of the councils that was why funds were not released.

Asked about the government strategy regarding release of funds in the upcoming financial year as government delayed local bodies' elections till April 2021, the minister said that funds of the local bodies would be released in the next financial year as he expressed the hope that elections would be held in next financial year commencing from July.

After completion of the tenure of the elected councils on August 28, 2019, the provincial government immediately delegated the powers of nazims and councils of the three tiers to the bureaucracy by amending the local government law.

Sources said that the powers of district councils were given to respective deputy commissioners (DCs), the powers of tehsil councils to tehsil municipal officer (TMOs) and...