Repossession: District govt gets its money back after a month

The accounts that were frozen with the revival of the local government 1979 stand restored.

KARACHI: With the local government system 2001 back in the saddle, the provincial government has decided to restore the district government’s accounts as well.

The Taluka Municipal Administrations (TMA) and Taluka Municipal Officers (TMO) are also back in business.

The district government’s accounts were seized when the 1979 system was revived. There was also meant to be an inquiry into how the funds were being spent.

The announcements came after a meeting at Chief Minister House on Tuesday. Just days after he assured a gathering of commissioners and deputy commissioners that the commissionerate system would not be changed, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah announced that Sindh has reverted back to the old local government system of 2001 and that the posts of commissioners and deputy commissioners have been abolished. The notification is scheduled to be issued today (Wednesday).

The CM announced that the issue of magisterial powers to stop the hoarding of essential commodities and illegal profiteering, had been put in writing and the letter has been sent to the federal government through the law department and necessary amendments in the criminal procedure code will be issued.

It was also decided that a Karachi administrator would be posted while the DCOs of all the remaining districts will be given the additional duties of administrators.

The CM maintained that the programme should be implemented without delay and development work in particular should be completed efficiently. It was also decided that the funds for development schemes will be released according to priority.

The finance secretary informed the meeting that Account IV has been restored and funds will be released as required.

Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani told the media that following the restoration of the 2001 system, all officials would be appointed after consulting the local government department.

He said that all coalition partners would be consulted before making amendments to the system. The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Law Minister Muhammad Ayaz Soomro, Kaiser Bengali, Chief Secretary Sindh Raja Muhammad Abbas, Finance Secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch, Local Government Secretary Ali Ahmed Lund, Law Department Secretary Ghulam Nabi Shah, Secretary to Sindh CM Alamddin Bullo and others.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2011.