HARIPUR, June 15: Councillor Saleem Khan Jadoon has accused the district Nazim of Haripur of misusing the funds of the Khushhal Pakistan Programme (phase 3-B) for gaining what he called “political mileage”.

“This (misuse of funds) is a clear violation of the Local Government Ordinance 2001,” he said, while talking to Dawn after attending a district council meeting here on Saturday.

Flanked by other members of the council, Mr Jadoon said the ordinance required that every development scheme was subject to the approval of the council. He alleged that the Nazim was violating the law by not getting various development schemes approved by the council.

Under the KPP, a sum of Rs49.2 million had been given by the provincial government and as per rules it was to be equally distributed among the areas, where development was most needed, he said, alleging that the Nazim had neither allocated the funds equally, nor had he bothered to get the schemes approved by the council.

According to the councillor, Rs14.3 million were allocated for Najafpur-Dartian Road, seven million rupees for Ali Khan-Mirpur Road, Rs6.5 million for the Bandi Sehran Union Council and over Rs30 million were spent in other union councils without the approval of the council.

There were areas, such as Khanpur, Ali Khan and Najafpur, which needed urgent attention, he said, adding that the council had been turned into a mere rubber stamp.