“It also helps improve living standard of the people by resolving their problems at the grassroots level,” he said while speaking at an Independence Day event organised on Friday by the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) at the President House.
Mamnoon termed the LG system a nursery of democracy where elected representatives work for the welfare and betterment of the people. Islamabad Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz, deputy mayors, vice chairmen and a large number of councillors attended the event.
Congratulating the local representatives, the president urged them to discharge their responsibilities with commitment and integrity. “You have made history by becoming the first elected representatives of the federal capital and now it is your responsibility to work for the betterment of the city,” the president said.
Mamnoon said that Islamabad is one of the beautiful capitals in the world and urged the local representatives to work with zeal to make it a model city for others to emulate.
The president noted that in recent years the capital city had seen an increase in its population and expansion which had raised some issues.
He said that heavy responsibility fell on the shoulders of the elected representatives to work to meet its infrastructural development needs and ensure the provision of basic amenities for the people.
The president said that the IMC will confront some initial challenges such as the paucity of funds and division of employees among different institutions but he expressed the hope that the mayor and other representatives will work with new energy and vigour to address issues facing the issue.
He noted that illegal slums were putting a strain on resources.
The president called for solid planning and strategy before establishing new localities.
He also urged the representatives to play their part in eradicating corruption by promoting merit and transparency.
Meanwhile, some members of the IMC were barred from entering the President House due to their ‘fashionably late’ arrival.
The gates of the President House were closed at 10:30am, due to which more than 100 members could not enter the building.
Local representatives belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf held a protest against the ‘early closure’ of the gates.
“The elected representatives have been humiliated and the PTI will move a resolution in the next IMC session against the attitude of the government,” opposition leader in the IMC Ali Nawaz Awan of the PTI told The Express Tribune.
“The timing of the event was sharp 10:30am and those councillors and chairmen of union councils who reached on time participated in the event,” Anser said, adding that those who did not arrive on time were not allowed to enter due to security clearance issues. He denied that the PTI councillors were singled out.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 20th, 2016.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ