RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government released Rs25 million to the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) to pay salaries to its employees.

However, a senior RMC official said the amount was not enough to accommodate all employees, including the 1,800 sanitary workers.

He said the accounts of the civic body were frozen soon after formation of the new local government system in Punjab on January 1.

However, the provincial government released the amount in a new account of the RMC so that it could pay the salaries for January.

The official said 1,800 sanitary workers of the Rawalpindi Municipal Waste Company had also come under the administrative control of the RMC.

Earlier, the sanitary workers received their salaries from the defunct City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR).

He said Rs25 million were not an additional fund as it was the monthlyinstallment of the Punjab Finance Commission (PFC) Award.

`Before the establishment of the RMC, the government had promised to increase the PFC award from Rs110 million per year to Rs220 million but it was yet to issue a notification in this regard.

He said the RMC had sent a letter to Deputy Commissioner Talat Mehmood Gondal to hand over the Pirwadhai general bus stand to the RMC which was given to CDGR in 2005.

`If the bus stand is given to the RMC, it would improve its earning and the civic body would not need to seek additional funds from the provincial government.

He said the deputy commissioner failed to reply to the letter or issue a notification in this regard. Along with the bus stand, the municipal library and the fire brigade will also be given to the RMC, the official added.

Under the Punjab Local Government Act 2013, the official said, these branches would be under the administrative control of the RMC.

The issue would be taken up by the mayor with the local bureaucracy soon, he added.

A senior PML-N1eader told Dawn that the mayor had not yet started going to his office as the provincial government failed to notify the working rules under the Punjab Local Government Act 2013.

He said the working of the municipal authority would formally start once the government issued the rules and the civic body formulated the by-laws accordingly.