DADU, Jan 26: The Dadu District Council in a resolution adopted on Monday demanded that the BHP oil and gas company should stop paying 13 per cent royalty to the federal government and pay the same to the district government.

It also urged the multinational company to increase its budget for the social sector from one per cent to five per cent and undertake development works through union council Nazims instead of NGOs.

Eight resolutions were adopted at the session which was presided over by Naib Nazim Zahid Hussain Jatoi. Johi Union Council Nazim Mohammad Usman Jamali said 15 per cent gas and oil of the country was obtained from wells of the Dadu district but the local people were not getting share in the royalty and the BHP company spent a meagre amount on the social sector.

Kamal Khan UC Nazim Mohammad Ibrahim Rind said union councils of the district were being ignored in development works and the area people were not being recruited by the company.

The Nazim of the Bahawalpur UC, Saeed Ahmad Jamali, also criticized the company for allocating a small budget for the social sector. Jamshoro UC Nazim Naima Baloch demanded that oil and gas companies, including Lasmo, ENI Pakistan, Sandoz and Techno, should pay royalty to the Dadu district government.

The unanimously-adopted resolution would be sent to the BHP management.Thalho UC Nazim Abid Hussain Lakhair in his resolution said the budget was released to DCOs instead of union council Nazims.

He reminded that the DCO and the EDO, finance, had announced during the budget session that Rs1.5 million would be given to each union council Nazim and Rs500,000 each to members elected on reserved seats but the funds were not released.

Sita Road UC Nazim Ali Mohammad Soomro supported the resolution and threatened that members and UC Nazims would resign from their seats if the funds were not released.

District council member Amir Sehole said officers were ignoring Nazims and they were not resolving problems in executing development schemes. The convener of the session asked the DCO to explain reasons for the delay in the release of the funds.

The DCO told the session that the Sindh government was not providing the Dadu district with its due share of the budget every month and the district government also awaited the amount of the development side.

He said if the district council passed a resolution for diverting funds from the non-development to the development head, Rs500,000 could be released to every Nazim and Rs200,000 to reserved seat members.

He said Rs1.5 million to every Nazim could only be provided after the Sindh government released the full budget to the district government. On the suggestion of the DCO, the members passed a resolution that the funds should be diverted from the non-development to the development account immediately and Rs500,000 to every Nazim and Rs200,000 to reserved seat members be provided.

They also withdrew their resignation threat. In another resolution, Ali Dino Panhwar regretted that 288 houses were destroyed and two people died in rains in the Thana Bula Khan taluka and crops were affected in Dadu, Johi, Mehar and Khairpur Nathan Shah talukas but the government did not pay compensation to affected people.

Dadu-II UC Nazim Nisar Ahmad Shaikh demanded that the government should pay compensation to the rain victims. The council adopted the resolution and called upon the government to declare the Dadu district a calamity-hit area.