SWABI, Feb 6: Irked by the absence of the district Nazim and officials of various government departments in the opening session of the district council, the treasury and the opposition members staged a walkout from the session on Wednesday.

The session, convened on the requisition of 30 members to debate the slashing of the funds of union councils and various development projects, could last only 30 minutes.

The annoyed members castigated District Nazim Sher Zaman and the officials who, according to them, gossiped with one another in the office of district Nazim instead of attending the session.

As the session began at 11.15am, Ajaz Khalid, Ghareeb Shah, Ajmal Khan, Faiz Mohammad, Ghulam Hasan and others through a resolution expressed annoyance over the absence of the Nazim, the district coordination officer and finance and planning officials.

After 30 minutes, they staged a walkout from the session, saying that they could not debate any of the issues in the absence of the Nazim and the officials concerned.

They alleged that the officials had devalued the vitality of the council, as they neither took action over unanimously adopted resolutions nor gave positive response to their demands to redress the public grievances.

Women councillors supported the protesting members and demanded that all the members of the council and the officials concerned reach council sessions in time.

An official said that in fact the council members were annoyed by the government decision to slash their funds  and divert them to major uplift projects in the district.

He said they were also irked by the decision that each union council would get Rs544,000 instead of the already allocated Rs1,100,000.

He added that the DCO and the finance and planning officials had discussed the development schemes and they were on their way to attend the session when the protesters had staged a walkout.

The session was adjourned till Thursday.