Punjab has finalised the draft for new
local bodies’ system which envisages party-based direct election of
mayors and deputy mayors for the cities.
The rural areas will have directly elected chairmen and deputy chairmen, and their election will also be held on party basis.
However,
the members of neighbourhood councils in cities and village councils in
rural areas would be elected in a non-party based election. The
existing union council in the cities under the present system has been
renamed as neighbourhood council.
These
councils will have three elected and an equal number of non-elected
members. Three seats have been reserved for youth, women and minorities.
A population base of 10,000 to 20,000 has been fixed for these councils
depending on various factors.
A
different mode of election for three directly elected seats of
councillors in a neighbourhood and village council has been proposed.
The candidates coming at number first, second and third position would
be declared elected out of any number of candidates contesting for the
three seats.
There would be no tier of tehsil municipalities in the new system.
Under
the proposed law, 30 percent funds meant for Annual Development
Programme (ADP) of provincial government would be given to the local
bodies to carry out development work. Similarly, 30 percent of total
budget allocation of provincial local government department would be
given to the neighbourhood and village councils for their development
schemes. These recommendations will be sent to Prime Minister Imran Khan
for final approval.
The draft law
for new local bodies was finalised here Tuesday in a meeting chaired by
Punjab Senior Minister Abdul Aleem Khan and attended by Minister for Law
Mohammad Basharat Raja and senior officers of the concerned
departments.
The Senior Minister
told the meeting that it would be for the first time in history that
Punjab Government would be handing over 30 percent funds of its
developmental budget to the local bodies’ institutions.
Abdul
Aleem Khan further told the meeting that there would be no overlapping
of functions as the jurisdiction of each tier - provincial, district and
neighbourhood/village council - would be clearly defined in the new
law. The Senior Minister said even a councillor would be recommending
developmental schemes and spending millions of rupees for the welfare of
the masses under the new system.
The
minister further stated that financial and administrative powers
enjoyed by the chief minister in the past would now be with the mayor of
every city and people’s problems would be solved at local level as per
their aspirations.
He claimed that
new local bodies’ set up in Punjab would be one of its own kind and even
the political opponents would not be able to raise finger. Aleem Khan
said that Punjab Government had completed its homework in this regard
and now the recommendations would be presented to Prime Minister Imran
Khan for final decision.
Meanwhile,
Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar Tuesday said there was no room
for an obsolete local bodies system in the new Pakistan as it had
failed to solve the problems of the masses at the grassroots level. He
said that new local bodies’ institutions will be strengthened and made
fully operational. “The power and authority will be devolved at the
grassroots level so that problems of the people could be solved at their
doorsteps,” he said, adding that new system would provide the necessary
relief to the people.
Buzdar
said that the government will grant authority to the local bodies’
representatives and a system of checks and balances will also be put in
place to ensure transparency at every level. “The representatives of the
people will be answerable to the people as the new system focused
primarily on the general public and timely resolution of their
problems,” he said.
The chief
minister said that local bodies’ institutions were being strengthened
for achieving the goal of a new Pakistan. “The new system would depict
the desires and aspirations of the people,” he concluded.