Lack of funds and powers: LG reps to stage sit-in outside CM’s Sectt

PESHAWAR: The chairman of tehsils and village councils in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have announced to stage a sit-in protest outside the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on December 19.

Speaking at a press conference here on Monday, the chairmen of several tehsil and village councils in the province said that elected representatives had been without funds and power for two years.

Mardan Mayor Himayatullah Mayar said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government amended the Local Government Act in 2019 to deprive the elected members of funds and powers. He said that in the last two years these members were not provided any development funds which was creating hurdles running the affairs of local government.

The mayor said that they had approached the Peshawar High Court to seek justice. He said that the responsibilities of the elected members had increasedat a time when there were no national and provincial assemblies. However, he said, it was unfortunate that these institutions had been rendered powerless on purpose.

He said that they were compelled to stage the protest outside the office of the caretaker chief

minister. He said the government was neither providing funds for development schemes nor releasing honorarium for the elected chairmen.