Local bodies election in six months: Zardari

President Zardari directs party members to prepare for Local Govt elections, which are to be held within six months.

KARACHI:

President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday directed PPP leaders to devise a plan for the local bodies’ election set to be held within six months. He passed the directives while presiding over a high-level meeting at the Bilawal House in Karachi. Attendees included all members of the Sindh cabinet, including Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah.

They briefed the president about the damages caused by the recent floods and put forward proposals for an early rehabilitation process.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the president directed Chief Minister Shah to designate a separate ministry for the rehabilitation of flood-hit areas. He also suggested starting night coaching in schools which were converted into relief camps.

The president asked party leaders to make committees at the district level to hold open katcheries in order to resolve people’s problem, sources in the PPP said.

Zardari took strong exception to the rising number of dengue cases in Sindh and directed the chief minister to take immediate steps to control the disease.

“Zardari expressed his anger over the delay in appointments against PBS-16 and above and directed the chief minister to transfer the Sindh Public Service Commission chairman if he was ineligible,” a source said. Around 26 ministers presented their briefings. Home Minister Zulfikar Mirza briefed the president about the current law and order situation and the recent spate of target killings in Karachi.

The president asked the chief minister to announce compensation for victims of the Shershah tragedy and others who lost their lives following the incident. The president said those people who were sacked after 1996 would be reinstated and in this respect the government would make an amendment in the law.

Meanwhile, while addressing the media after the meeting, PPP Information Secretary Fauzia Wahab said the president asked for introducing an online tax system without any delay to facilitate tax payers. The president also stressed the need for a drip irrigation system in the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2nd, 2010.