Delayed LG polls taking toll on uplift schemes

Punjab govt continues to drag its heels on holding local bodies elections

RAWALPINDI:

The outgoing year proved very disappointing for the local government system in Punjab as the provincial government dragged its heels on holding elections and handing over necessary funds and power to local bodies to function effectively.

The LG bodies were virtually dissolved by the Punjab government in May 2019 before they were restored in October 2021 on the order of the Supreme Court before their five-year tenure ended almost seven months ago.

After the dissolution of the LG bodies, bureaucrats were appointed as administrators across Punjab, who continue to prepare their own budgets. The administrators have approved 140 schemes worth Rs1 billion for 98 union councils of the Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation.

The Rawalpindi district council has approved 127 development schemes worth Rs1.15 billion for 106 union councils and issued their tenders. Owing to the absence of the LG bodies, development activities in the Rawalpindi district have been badly affected at the grass root level.

Due to the absence of local representatives, the resolution of local problems has also started to exacerbate as development schemes are being prepared on the recommendations of members of national and provincial assemblies.

Necessary development schemes at the neighborhood level have been completely neglected by the administrators. In Punjab, none of the local government systems could survive because of the changes in the government for more than times.

This year, the local government system changed three times and legislation was passed by the Punjab Assembly three times, but it could not be implemented. In February 2022, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf's Usman Buzdar government approved the neighborhood and panchayat councils in the local government system.

In April, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government led by Hamza Shehbaz reinstated the old Municipal System Act 2013 and appointed administrators. After the Shehbaz Sharif government ended in July, the PTI government again approved the neighborhood council system with new legislation with further amendments in October.

However, this system could not be implemented practically. This system will come into effect when local elections were held. The local government system will remain hanging in the balance till the new local elections were held in Punjab. If the PTI government quits the Punjab Assembly, the approved system is expected to come to an end.

With the current new system, the number of local bodies in the Rawalpindi district has reduced from 21 to eight. In the new system, seven tehsil councils and six municipal committees have been abolished in the Rawalpindi district. They have been replaced with one metropolitan corporation, one district council, Murree Municipal Corporation and five Cantonment boards (Rawalpindi, Chaklala, Wah Cantt, Taxila and Murree).

 

After the formation of three new tehsils of Sadar, City and Cantt in Rawalpindi and the merger of two tehsils Murree and Kotli Satian in the new Murri district, new delimitations of constituencies of national and provincial assembly constituencies along with local bodies have also been started. For the new delimitations, a district election committee has been formed at the district level.