Non-release of funds: LG reps in KP want tenure extended

MANSEHRA: The Provincial Local Council, a body representing tehsil, village and neighbourhood councils chairmen in the province, on Sunday demanded the government to extend the current tenure of the grassroots governing system by three more years.

“We have been deprived of the funds and powers guaranteed under the LG Act 2013 over the last three years. The provincial government should not only release our outstanding funds of Rs120 billion but also extend the existing term by another three years,” Intizar Khalil, the provincial coordinator for Local Council Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told a meeting held here.

The meeting was attended by the secretary of the Provincial Council Farhad Khan, Tehsil Chairman Mansehra Sheikh Muhammad Shafi, president of the Local Council Ittehad Malik Mumtaz, General Secretary Basharat Ali Swati and chairmen of village and neighbourhood councils.

They set a December 31 deadline for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to meet their demands or else they would stage a sit-in outside the provincial assembly in Peshawar by January 1.

“This three-year term, which is nearing its end, has been a challenging period for tehsil, village, and neighbourhood councils as successive governments not only withheld development funds but also denied us the rights to serve the people in our respective jurisdictions,” Khalil said.

“Our sit-in scheduled to begin on January 1 next year in Peshawar, will not yield to any government pressure until all our demands are fulfilled,” he added.Speaking on the occasion, Tehsil Chairman Sheikh Mohammad Shafi said that the residents of Mansehra City and its surrounding areas were struggling with issues like the lack of potable water and the shortage of burial space in existing graveyards but the provincial government had failed to release the funds needed to address these and other civic problems.“We will start the new year with a sit-in outside the provincial assembly and will not end it until our demands are met,” he added.