‘Proposed LG system to ensure transparency’

Minister says citizens will have the right to vote for district, tehsil heads

LAHORE: “The proposed new local government system will give financial and administrative autonomy to public representatives with necessary checks and balances to ensure transparency,” said Senior Provincial Minister for Local Government and Community Development (LGCD) Abdul Aleem Khan.

He was speaking to officials while chairing a departmental meeting on Thursday.



The minister said that as per the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, direct elections will be held for tehsil and district heads. “Contrary to the present local government system in Punjab, all the citizens will have the right to vote for each tehsil and district government head,” he added.

Aleem Khan maintained that members of the national and provincial assemblies will not be given any development funds. “All development schemes will be planned and executed by the local government representatives according to the needs and wishes of the local population,” he mentioned.

He indicated that former military ruler Pervez Musharraf had given autonomy to local government public representatives but the system lacked proper checks and balances for transparency.

The minister directed LGCD department officials to prepare recommendations so that they could be presented to the prime minister, who is expected to visit Lahore on Friday (today).

He also directed officials to make a comparative study of local government systems of international cities such as London and New York, while also looking at the positive aspects of 2001 and 2013 local bodies’ acts and present local government system of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

Aleem pointed out that in the new system, there should be a comprehensive system for monitoring and auditing so that the performance of local government representatives can be evaluated and corruption can be eradicated.

He said, “There is a need to cut down on the size of union councils.  Under the new local government system, construction of streets, drainage and street lights will be the domain of union councils, while water supply and municipal functions will be carried out by tehsil administrations to avoid overlapping and wasting public money.”



While criticising the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) regime, the minister said the previous government did nothing to empower local representatives. He added the PML-N government provided only Rs300,000 to each union council which was insufficient for development.

He highlighted that village councils and neighbourhood councils would also be established along the lines of K-P’s local government system.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2018.