CHITRAL: Differences between the district government and the finance department on the mode of utilising funds for construction of additional classrooms, boundary walls and toilets in the schools here has led to delay in release of funds by four months, and any further delay can result in lapse of the money.

An official of education department told Dawn that the provincial government had allocated over Rs32 million for construction of infrastructures on need basis in 34 schools which the district nazim wanted to execute through the parent-teacher councils (PTCs).

However, he said the district finance department did not approve of the suggestion.

Differences over use of funds blamed

The official said by December a two-third of the funds must have been released by the finance department to the education department as work season closed for three months with the start of harsh winter.

When contacted, district officer finance Noorul Amin told Dawn that the district government’s insistence on utilising the funds through the PTCs was in utter violation of the guidelines of the planning and development department.

He said under the guidelines execution of the works should be done by the executing agencies of the provincial government like communication and works department, tehsil municipal administration and local government and rural development department.

The official said the district education officer (male) had sent a request to the TMA, the DEO (female) to the C&W department, for execution of the projects.

The district naib nazim told Dawn that the district government was insisting on execution of projects through the PTCs because in that way construction expenditures were cut by half.

He, however, said the district government and departments of finance and education had agreed that PC-I of each project would be prepared to fulfill the codal formality, but the work would be carried out as per the estimate of the respective PTCs of the schools.

The nazim said the PTC estimate was based on the actual market rates of labour and construction material, while that of PC-I rate was based on composite schedule rate of the finance department prepared for the whole province. FIVE ARRESTED: Chitral police arrested five persons of Shiekhandeh Bumburate for torturing three minor boys and keeping them in illegal confinement.

A police official told Dawn that the accused took the three children to a house and confined them in a bathroom, torturing them and trimming their hair. He said the children of Shiekhandeh used to pick dry wood from the nearby forest to sell it in the market.

On the report of the child protection unit of the social welfare department, the police raided the house and nabbed five persons, including Sajidullah, Raheemullah, Zahir Khan, Usman and Noorul Haq, and registered case against them under different sections of PPC and Child Protection Act.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2016