DISgruntled: Vice chairs, councillors seek intervention

ISLAMABAD: Disgruntled vice chairmen and councillors of Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) have sought the prime minister’s intervention to get them effectively involved in the day-to-day affairs of the local government system.

Around 35 vice chairmen and more than 100 councillors from the treasury and opposition benches in Islamabad’s local government (LG) system had presented their demands at a crowded press conference at National Press Club (NPC) late on Thursday.

They decried the attitude of IMC Chairman Sheikh Anser Aziz and various union council chairmen.

Moreover, they demanded that vice chairmen must sign off on all financial and day-to-day affairs of union councils and that they should also be made part of the IMC by giving them a right to vote like UC chairmen. Just a few months into their jobs, they also demanded greater perks and privileges.

They warned that if their demands were not met, they would approach the court or even resign.

They said that ICT LG Act-2015, was amended on November 30, 2015 through an ordinance due to which ineligible people were given powers while the masses were deprived of the real benefits of a local government system.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2017.