HYDERABAD, April 10: District Nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman has demanded the release of the Sindh governor's grant of Rs500 million for sewerage and water supply schemes of the city's three talukas.

He was speaking at a meeting of the district council requisitioned for discussing the Rs10.5 billion Hyderabad development package here on Saturday.

The Nazim said that the situation had been clarified by the prime minister whose earlier statement regarding the Hyderabad package had created confusion.

He said that schemes of about Rs12 billion had been prepared to be undertaken under the package. He said that a booklet of the schemes would be distributed among the council members to propose amendments, if any.

Mr Rafiquzzaman informed the meeting that the Hyderabad package had been clubbed together with the Rs29 billion Karachi package announced by the prime minister and expressed the hope that now the funds would be released as Karachi was more important.

Regarding other development funds, he said that Rs141 million of the Annual Development Programme would be released soon which would be disbursed for uplift works of Rs1.3 million in each union council.

He said that this amount had earlier lapsed and the district government had reappropriated funds of other heads to continue works under the ADP.

About the governor's grant, the Nazim said that there were indications of delay in release of the fund though he had heard that half of the amount would be allocated through the Sindh ADP.

He demanded that the lapsed amount of Rs125 million should be released so that it could be utilized before the end of the current fiscal year, adding that contractors' liabilities were Rs80 million.

He said that another instalment of Rs125 million was also due against the Sindh government which it could release in the next fiscal year.

Mr Rafiquzzaman said that he intended to present the budget in May to avoid misunderstandings and complications that had been witnessed last year. He proposed that the council's committee on budget preparation should hold meetings with the finance and planning department to devise a strategy to prepare the budget.

He said that the budget could directly be presented in the council for open discussion among the members who could make amendments to it.

To protest against the supply of contaminated water to their union councils, Ibrahim Qureshi, Ehsan Mamoon, Saleem Khanzada and Sher Mohammad Pirzada walked out of the council session. They complained that even the district Nazim was not supporting them in their protest.

They said that their councils were being supplied with water from a site where buffaloes also entered the water.

They said that the Water and Sanitation Agency had always made wrong statements about supply of potable water to the union councils.

Mr Rafiquzzaman asked Wasa managing-director Kafeel Khanzada to visit the site along with the members and discuss the matter as it was a serious issue and had been raised in the district council time and again.

Major Azeem of the Army Selection Recruitment Centre urged the council members to encourage people in their union councils to join the army as posts were available.