RAWALPINDI: The mayor of Rawalpindi has sought help from the Punjab government to get back Rs670 million of the defunct Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) from the district accounts department as the local government is unable to complete development projects and pay pension to 1,780 retired employees.

In December 2016, the defunct RMC deposited the Rs670 million in the district accounts department on the directives of the Punjab government till the formation of a new local government system.

The funds were transferred to the district accounts department after the provincial government abolished the accounts of the defunct civic body and directed the opening of new bank accounts in the name of the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation(RMC).

In April 2017, the RMC opened new accounts for paying pension and salaries to its employees besides launching development works. However, the RMC was shocked when the district accounts officer refused to release the amount.

The RMC finance department approached the deputy commissioner and the commissioner for the solution of the problem but the district accounts department refused to pay back the amount without the approval of the treasury inspector of the huance department.

Upon this, Mayor Sardar Naseem contacted the secretary local government to get the amount released as the civic agency was facing financial problems to meet its expenditures and pay salaries to its employees.

In a letter to the local government department, the mayor said the funds had been generated by the civic body and deposited with the district accounts as per the directives of the provincial government.

He requested the finance secretary to look into the matter and resolve the matter.

A senior official of the accounts department told Dawn that the department not only stopped the release of RMC funds but also that of the municipal committees of Murree, Taxila,Gujar Khan, Kahut a, Kotli Sat tian and Kalar Syedan.

He said under the law the treasury inspector inspects allfunds and then gives a go-ahead signal to the accounts department to release the money.

He said the accounts department wanted to fulfil the requirement and did not want to stop the funds or had refused to pay it back.

When contacted, RMC Finance Officer Shahzad Gondal said for about two months the accounts department had been approached to release the money.

`The mayor wrote a letter to the Punjab government as we were left with no other option to resolve the problem,` he said, adding the accounts departments of other districts had released the funds to the respective municipal corporations and municipal committees immediately after the formation of the new local government system.

He said the RMC failed to pay the outstanding amount of development works in the current fiscal to the contractors. `In the Rawalpindi city, no new work could be launched as the contractors have been asking for the clearance of their outstanding bills.

He said over 1,700 pensioners were also not paid their pension since April.