Punjab freezes funds of all 40 district councils under new local government system

According to Profit by Pakistan Today, which drew on The Express Tribune, Punjab's government has put a hold on the money belonging to each of the province's 40 district councils. The move comes as a fresh local government framework takes hold and the funds are being shifted to recently created tehsil councils. Contractors previously enrolled with district bodies are now being enrolled again with tehsil councils in their areas.

Only projects close to completion are allowed to proceed, while other grants and development allocations now fall under the tehsil councils. In Rawalpindi, the freeze has resulted in 286 schemes being dropped, regardless of size. That council had approved a Rs7.84 billion budget, roughly Rs3 billion of which was set aside for local grants and development work.

The Chahan Dam Water Supply Project, designed to bring 12 million gallons daily to about one million people, is now being run by the tehsil councils and the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA). Water supply projects that the district council used to handle have moved to WASA. Separately, a clean drinking water pilot under the Punjab chief minister has started supplying water through pipelines and filtration plants in underdeveloped parts of Rawalpindi and Chaklala.