MUZAFFARABAD, Apr 23 (APP): The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Government has released long awaited development funds for local councils elected last year.
Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore told journalists on Tuesday that the first tranche of Rs 411 million, including Rs 133 million for rural councils, had been released while the second one of Rs 408 million would disbursed soon.
The minister said each union council or ward of urban bodies such as municipal corporations, municipal committees and town committees or each constituency of district councils would get funds of Rs 1 million which would be spent on development schemes identified by their respective representatives.
As regards delay in release of the funds, the minister said that as the local councils were elected last year after a gap of 30 years, the government devising a mechanism for the funds disbursement to ensure their proper utilization in sustainable development and avoid their wastage.
He said that the amount was provided from the block allocations fixed for sub head new initiatives in the budget. Rs 350 million allocated in the budget for the PM’s special directive programme was used for the purpose and instead reserved for urgent needed schemes, he added.
Faisal Rathore said earlier Rs 700 million used to be spent on the prime minister’s discretion, which had been reduced in the current fiscal year budget. However, Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq had not even used a penny from his discretionary funds, he added.
The minister said a mechanism had been evolved by the government to ensure transparency in the spending of development funds. A digital App had been introduced to monitor development schemes on the ground and no amount would be released without certification of the work done.
He said the AJK Government was trying to further strengthen and empower the local bodies by providing them more funds with the aim to resolve the problems of the people at the grassroots level. Any agitation on roads by the elements having vested interests would not be tolerated, he added.
The minister said when the incumbent government took charge of office the state was facing financial crunch. However, under the directives of PM Chaudhry Anwarul Haq and the prime minister, the crisis had been overcome by adopting strict administrative and financial discipline, and austerity measures.
He said the problems lingering for decades could not be solved within months. The present government was treading on the right path and making its efforts for the betterment of system.
