Status of 4 districts to be upgraded
Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal has announced that the districts of Gwadar, Turbat, Khuzdar, Chaman and the city of Hub will be given the status of Metropolitan Corporations.
During a high level meeting on Monday chaired by the provincial chief executive, participants of the meeting were briefed regarding proposed new municipal committees, municipalities and metropolitan corporations.
"The population of cities is growing rapidly. For the first time in the history of the province, 72 new municipal committees are being formed," CM Kamal said. "24 new municipal corporations will be formed."
The chief minister added that these measures will bring relief to the people at the grassroots level.
Further on, the meeting also discussed the local body elections.
Local government secretary briefed the participants on the conduct of local body elections and the issues faced in this regard.
The meeting was also informed about the hearing to be held on Tuesday (today) in the election commission pertaining to the local body elections.
CM Kamal directed government officials to present a reasoned position in the hearing to be held.
The provincial government members were also briefed on various legal issues related to delimitation of local bodies including the local body elections.
Under section 13 of the Balochistan Local Government Act 2010, the provincial government can make demarcations on its own.
It is pertinent to note that the cabinet has already decided that the mandate for delimitation belongs to the provincial government.
The election commission has already been informed about this decision, according to a government official.
"The election commission will conduct local body elections in accordance with applicable provincial laws," he further briefed the participants.
An All Parties Conference was held to amend the Local Government Act, 2010. The recommendations made by the All Parties Conference will be presented in the next cabinet meeting.
Provincial Ministers Mir Zahoor Ahmed Buledi, Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran, Engineer Zamarak Khan Achakzai, Umar Khan Jamali, Balochistan Chief Secretary Motahar Niaz Rana, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Asfandyar Khan, Local Government Secretary Ahmad Raza Khan, Finance Secretary Abdul Rehman Bazdar, and Director General Relations Public Prince Farhat Ahmadzai participated in the meeting.
Local Government Advisor Nawabzada Gohram Khan Bugti and Balochistan advocate general also attended the meeting through video link.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2021.