LAHORE:Provincial Local Government Minister Zeeshan Rafique Monday said the legislative process is underway to conduct local bodies’ elections in Punjab.
Addressing a round table conference on Local Democratic Governments, the minister said there is ambiguity in the law made by the former government. Civil society representatives, senior journalists and others also attended the moot and emphasised the need for early holding of the LB elections in Punjab.
The minister said the Local Government Act 2019 called for the abolition of the Union Council. He regretted that elected local bodies were not allowed to flourish in the past, but the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had a track record of conducting LB elections during its tenures.
The minister said Mian Nawaz Sharif strengthened the LB when he was the prime minister, but the next government sent the LB of the PML-N home.
He said under the supervision of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, the preparation for holding LB elections in the province is proceeding ahead. “Maryam Nawaz has set up a high-level committee within a month of assuming power, which has studied various systems and forwarded recommendations of the new bill to the cabinet”, he maintained.
The minister expressed the hope that the provincial cabinet will soon approve the draft law after which the matter will go to the Punjab Assembly. He termed the Local Government Act of the previous government as unworkable, saying the division between cities and villages was abolished in this law, which created complexity in the system. “It is clear that cities have their own problems and rural populations have their own issues’, he said. The minister said Town Committees and Tehsil Councils are being added in the new LB system. “We completed all this within a few months. In this regard, financial aspects were also taken into consideration,” he said.
The minister agreed that the task of repairing and rehabilitation of the streets should be the responsibility of the local representatives. “We want the new system to have no loopholes so that it will continue in the future too”, he maintained.
He said all sections of society will be represented in the new draft law. “For the first time, under the supervision of the CM, solid waste management is being introduced at rural level, which will lead to a pleasant change. He said by utilising the same resources which have been available for years, exemplary cleaning measures were taken throughout Punjab on the recent Eid-ul-Azha.
The minister said the main credit of the high sanitation arrangements goes to the CM. Referring to the municipal elections, the Local Government Minister said there is no delay on the part of the Punjab government, but it is a fact that the legal procedures take time. “Delimitation after fresh census is a constitutional requirement. Apart from this, the proposal is under consideration that like the elections of the national and provincial assemblies, the municipal elections should also be held on time without any hindrance. For this, if necessary, constitutional amendment can also be done’, he added.
