Rawalpindi: Provincial Minister for Local Government
and Community Development (LGCD) Basharat Raja on Thursday directed the new local governments
across the province to draft and share their budget proposals for the
first and second half of the Financial Year 2020-21, according to news sources.
As per the publication, this decision was made in light of the recent
implementation of the new local government system in the province.
Reportedly, each local body has been instructed to devise two budgets: one for the period prior to the enforcement of the new system between July 1, 2019 and November 6, 2019, and the second for the period between November 7, 2019 and June 30, 2020.
The
deadline for the budget submission is February 29. In case of not meeting the
deadline, the local bodies will dispatch their budgets to the provincial
minister directly.
The budget will have to determine new income sources and development schemes presented by elected representatives — with priority being given to the provision of clean drinking water.
Moreover, the Punjab government is expected to provide PKR 10 million for each union council
(UC) in the next fiscal budget, and the
federal government will
distribute PKR 150
million for every member of
the national assembly
(MNA).
On the other hand, the Rawalpindi Tehsil Council has released PKR 140 million to assist 19 neighbourhood councils to commence issuing tenders for development projects. These consist of over 150 development schemes; including the repair and construction of water supply systems, sewerage lines, storm drains and roads.
Additionally,
the new system has witnessed the merger of 24 rural UCs in the Rawalpindi
Tehsil Council into the Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation (RMC). Similarly, tenders for the
development schemes in the merged UCs are expected to be issued by March — with
the completion date of the project estimated to be June 30.
