PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative department officials have put their heads together to devise a mechanism of development funds distribution at the tehsil level under the local government act.
According to sources of the finance department, there is a procedure for distribution of funds at the district level under the Provincial Finance Commission but no such mechanism exists at tehsil level. The officials said that all the data on poverty, tax collection and current infrastructure situation is available only at the district level and it will take more time to compile all data at tehsil level.
But currently, no progress has been made in this regard.
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Officials of the finance department, the local government department and the accountant general have jointly tried to find a solution but have not yet reached a final decision on the mechanism. The officials urged the need for further amendment to section-30 of the Local Government Act, 2013 to device a legal mechanism for distribution of funds at tehsil level.
According to Accountant General Sources, it has been recommended that a committee consisting of all parties have been formed which would consolidate all the issues regarding the funds of Tehsil Governments and formulate its recommendations.
For the time being, the provincial government has decided to use Account Four for disbursement of funds at present. However, its approval will be sought from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) but if the SBP declined the permission, another solution will be sought.
The Finance Department has also constituted a special committee for the distribution and utilization of funds by the Tehsil Governments, which will be headed by the Additional Secretary, Provincial Finance Commission, Finance Department, representatives of the Council Board, Director Treasury, Director Local Fund Auditor, Director Financial Management Information Systems and Representative of the Sub-National Governance Program. To make it effective, the current committee will propose amendments to the Local Government Act as well as the modalities of distribution of funds and will prepare its report in this regard by next week.