RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has released Rs5.1 million to the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) to purchase a car for the mayor of Rawalpindi, while but has not released funds to pay 2,000 former RMC employees their pensions for four months.

A senior RMC official told Dawn the funds were transferred to the RMC`s accounts by the provincial government so a car may be bought for the mayor.

He said the government has released funds to purchase vehicles for mayors and district council chairmen across the province, but deputy mayorsand district council vice chairmen will not receive their facility.

The official said the Punjab government told the RMC to purchase a Toyota Fortuner and report to the finance department as soon as possible. He said the pensions of former employees are still pending, and the funds for this have not been released by the government.

Another RMC official said the provincial government has not finalised the corporation`s rules of working even though it has been functioning for a month, and because of this developed work is still stalled.

He said work on development schemes was stopped in December 2016, after the Rawal Town Municipal Administrationbecame the RMC, because contracts could not be awarded without the rules of working.

The official said the finance department asked the RMC to prepare a new budget for January to June, and get it approved. He said all the RMC accounts are frozen, and the pension matter will be taken up after the new budget.

Former RMC spokesperson and Pensioner Action Committee chairperson Tahir Mehmood Khan told Dawn more than 2,000 RMC employees have not received their pensions for four months.

`We are shuttling between the mayor and deputy commissioner`s of fices but nobody is listening to the problems of elderly people who served the RMC for30 to 40 years,` he said.

He said according to directives from the Supreme Court, development work should be stopped if pensioners do not receive their pensions.

`The Punjab government has no money for pensioners, but it is releasing money to purchase new cars,` he added.

When contacted, RMC Finance Officer Shahzad Gondal said the funds to purchase the vehicles were provided to all the district councils and municipal corporations in the province.

He said the pensioners` issue was pending with the local administration, which will make a decision after the rules of working for civic bodies under the new local government act are received.