Sindh cabinet to meet on Feb 2 to amend local govt law

Cabinet likely to give control of Bundal, Buddu islands to forest department

KARACHI:

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government in Sindh has decided to amend the contentious local government law in compliance with the accord reached with the Jamaat-e-Islami a day earlier.

In this regard, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has summoned a meeting of the provincial cabinet on Feb 2, Express News reported. The government has also decided to postpone the local government polls till July.

In its meeting, the cabinet will decide on making the agreement with the JI part of the bill, to extend the powers of the city mayor. The cabinet will give approval to the appointment of the Karachi mayor as the chairperson of the Karachi water board along with reverting the control of health and education departments to the mayoral office.

The provincial government will also relinquish the control of the octroi tax and give it back to the municipal corporations. The cabinet will also decide on re-tabling the local government bill in the Sindh Assembly.

The agenda also includes Bundal and Buddu Islands, whose ownership will be handed over to the forest department. It may be noted that the forest department secretary had requested the Sindh government for an order on the islands.

Read Sindh’s local government system has collapsed: planning minister

The Sindh cabinet is also expected to give approval to the purchase of new vehicles for the health departments. The purchase of handguns from Turkey for the Sindh Police and the purchase of wheat will also be part of the agenda.

The agreement

The JI on Friday agreed to end its 29-day-long sit-in outside the Sindh Assembly after the PPP-led government agreed to amend the contentious local government act.

The accord was reached between the government and the JI after PPP leader Syed Nasir Hussain visited the JI protest camp along with senior party leaders.

As per the agreement read out by Shah in front of the protesters, all departments of the education and health sectors, including hospitals and dispensaries, will be handed back to the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC)

PPP’s Nasir said there were several meetings between the government and the JI regarding the amendments in the Sindh Local Government Act 2021 to make the law better for the people of the province.