LAHORE – District governments across Punjab are clamoring for funds to run their affairs on a daily basis, as the monthly grants of a majority of districts and tehsils have been pending for months, Pakistan Today has learnt.
According to details, the Punjab Finances Department issues monthly grants for 36 district governments including five city district governments, 20 cantonment boards, 144 tehsil municipal administrations (TMA) and 3,464 union administrations. The monthly grants for TMAs range from as low as Rs 1 million per month to as high as Rs 200 million for development and non-development expenditures, while those for the district governments run in billions per month. The Punjab Local Government Ordinance (PLGO) clearly lays down a procedure for a prompt transfer of funds to the respective accounts of district governments, tehsil and union administrations as per their allocated share.
The grants are decided when the annual budget is approved and is disbursed on a monthly basis by the provincial government. As per initial practice, funds were transferred to the district government in a specified account operated jointly by the district nazim and the district coordination officer (DCO). But the incumbent government, through an executive arrangement, created a Special Drawing Account (SDA) operated jointly by EDO (F&P) and the DCO, since the terms of the district nazims had expired.
According to finance department sources, the district governments and TMAs have written several letters to the finance department for releasing the funds. “We have sent the requests to the authorities concerned many times but all the files have been sent back and are pending so far. The government did not release the due grants since December and the district governments are managing their affairs through revenues generated on their own, but these do not fall in the ambit of the provincial government and it is their prerogative to use the finances as they want. The provincial government cannot hold their due grants on this pretext in any case,” they said.
According to sources, the finance department on Thursday released nearly Rs 295 million to only eight districts as their grants for the month of February, but the rest are still awaiting their due grants to run their affairs. They said that the contractors who have completed their work are also waiting for their finances for months, with some even moved the court to redress their grievances.
Talking to Pakistan Today, a district accounts officer, seeking anonymity, said that according to practice, the district government would send details of receipts in the districts to the finance department, which would then direct the district government to expense a certain amount on a daily basis. “This is quite unbecoming of any government, least of all the Punjab government which should have finances in surplus,” he added.
Situation is even worse is certain districts such as Toba Tek Singh where the district government is facing difficulties in disbursing wages. “The crisis still looms large here as we do not have requisite funds to pay even our daily wages workers. We have written to the finance department about the situation, but in vain. Even the Toba Tek Singh DCO, in a recent meeting, with the chief minister highlighted the issue and informed him of the financial crunch, but still no respite has come from the provincial government. Uncertainty looms large over even senior government officials as to what will come next,” he added.
