RAWALPINDI, Jan 20: The Potohar Town Council on Tuesday turned down a proposal of the provincial government to levy taxes in 10 different union councils falling in the category of urban areas.

The government has directed the town administration to levy property tax in the union councils adjacent to the urban areas to improve the financial health of the overwhelming rural town.

The UCs to be considered for the property tax are 74 Shakrial South, UC 75 Shakrial North, UC 77 Gangal, UC 76 Khana Dak, UC 78 Chaklala, UC 79 Dhoke Munshi, UC 80 Rehmatabad, UC 81 Kotha Kalan, UC 82 Morgha, UC 84 Dhama Syedan and UC 87 Chak Jalal Din. They are no longer considered as rural areas.

The local government representatives said the provincial government had not sanctioned council's funds under the Annual Development Plan despite repeated requests and instead was asking them to impose tax in its union councils. They said the district and town nazims were being victimised by the Punjab government.

Samina Mukhar, who presented the resolution opposing the taxation proposal, said they were not against levying taxes but in the present circumstances it was not justified as people were already facing a lot of problems.

She criticised the provincial government for what she said crippling the system and intriguing against the elected representatives. Chaudhry Riasat said due to a ban on funds, development activities in the district had come to a halt. He said various ongoing development schemes started last year had been stopped and no new schemes could be launched as the provincial government had refused to allocate funds.

Malik Mumtaz, Town Municipal Officer, however, informed the house that the ban on the fund allocation had been lifted and nazims can prepare development schemes and forward them for implementation.

The council also set aside a request made by the executive district officer community development for approval of Rs70,000 spent on boarding and lodging of the participants of Tour de Pakistan cycle race in Rawalpindi.

The members said they were unaware of the event and the money was used by the district government without their consent. The presiding officer said instead of rejecting the request they should deferred it till the next meeting. The councillors allowed the town administration to purchase vehicles for the maintenance of streetlights. They also allowed the administration to shift its offices to the under-construction building of the town.

Our Reporter adds: The City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) has decided to ensure that all commercial buildings across the district vigorously adopt emergency and fire safety standards, while new business centres strictly adhere to the approved plans covering guidelines on disaster management.

Chairing a meeting held here on Tuesday to review emergency and safety standards in commercial buildings, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Imdadullah Bosal said the administrations of all those buildings that did not abide by the by-laws and apply unethical methods to get approved plans of their choice, would be given no relaxation.