KARACHI: The Sindh government has backtracked on its plan to contact the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for an investigation into the alleged misappropriation of funds worth billions of rupees by the district governments, especially the city district governments of Karachi and Hyderabad, Daily Times has learnt. The decision to this effect was taken at a meeting chaired by the then Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro in 2010. The then Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani had written a formal letter to the Law Department, asking it to contact the NAB for an investigation into the alleged misappropriation of billions of rupees by the district governments. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) led the Karachi and Hyderabad district governments, which have been linked to misappropriation of funds. According to the sources, the tenure of the local governments expired on January 1, 2009 and it was the responsibility of the Sindh government to investigate the alleged misappropriation of funds by the elected local council representatives. The Sindh Local Government Commission (SLGC) received hundreds of complaints against the nazims of different districts who allegedly violated rules and regulations of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO) 2002, grabbed land, misappropriated public funds and sanctioned development projects on the basis of likes and dislikes, the sources added. The commission looked into these complaints and recommended that they should be sent to the NAB for investigation and action against those found guilty of corruption and other malpractices. The members of the party ruling Sindh insisted that action should taken against nazims, but it could not happen due to the reconciliation policy of former President Asif Ali Zardari. The sources said that Sindh government’s Planning and Development Department would be approached to check the quality of the development work done by former local governments of Karachi and other districts of the province. Sources said that most complaints were against the City District Government of Karachi (CDGK) and district governments of Thatta, Badin, Sukkur, Ghotki, Shikarpur, Larkana, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Dadu and Tharparkar. These governments have been accused of misappropriation of funds. Daily Times made repeated attempts to contact Sindh Minister for Local Government Jam Khan Shoro for his version on this issue, but he did not pick up his phone.