LG reps say KP govt wants to utilise funds through MPAs

PESHAWAR: Reacting to the government’s decision to take back offices and vehicles from the local government representatives, the Local Council Association (LCA) on Thursday said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government wanted to utilise the funds of the local governments through the provincial lawmakers.

LCA president Himayatullah Mayar said that the tenure of the existing local governments would expire on August 28, but the government had not made any arrangements for holding the election for local governments.He said the government was required to hold election within three months of the expiry of the tenure of the local governments. “The delimitation of the constituencies should have been completed by now and the government should have announced schedule for holding of election,” he added.

However, he said, the silence on part of the government regarding local government election showed that it was not interested in holding the polls. “The government cannot afford to announce the election at the time when it has nothing to show to the people in terms of its performance and ask them to vote their candidate,” he argued.The skyrocketing inflation, increasing joblessness and poor governance indicators would force the government to delay the local government election, he claimed.

The LCA president said that delaying the election was violation of the Constitution and the Local Government Act of the province.

The Local Government, Elections and Rural Development Department issued a notification on Wednesday asking for taking over official vehicles/assets from district nazimeen/naib nazimeen, town/tehsil nazimeen and village/neighborhood council nazimeen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The notification stated “as per provisions of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act 2013, the tenure of existing local governments (District Government, Town/Tehsil Councils and village/neighborhood councils) is expiring on August 28. Accordingly, Nazimeen/naib nazimeen district government, town/ tehsil councils and village and neighborhood councils shall stand relieved of their official responsibilities with effect from August 28.”