Sindh government making billions due to flaws in SLGA 2013, says Haleem

Provincial assembly opposition leader Haleem Adil Sheikh on Thursday said that at least 21 articles in the Sindh Local Government Act (SLGA) 2013 directly affect the autonomy of the local bodies, and make the government’s third tier meaningless and inefficient, so they need to be removed to make the law acceptable.

He said articles 74, 75, 77, 80, 87, 88, 92, 105, 112, 118, 119, 123 and 144, and some provisions of the schedules grant excessive authority in financial, administrative, developmental, recruitment and other matters to the provincial government, so that a local council can’t even finalise water supply or drainage schemes on their own.

“The provincial government is even empowered to suspend the chairman, members or the entire local council,” said Sheikh, who is also the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s central leader, while addressing the media at the PA. He said corruption is the only reason behind the provincial government’s insistence on implementing the present LG law because, he claimed, they are making billions of rupees due to the flaws in the legislation.

He pointed out that several provisions in the SLGA 2013 are undermining the autonomy of the LG institutions of the province, claiming that they are being exploited by the provincial government to embezzle funds to the tune of billions of rupees.

“Sindh is being ruled by Ali Baba and 40 thieves, who are busy in ruthlessly looting the national exchequer and the resources of the people of the province,” he said.

“The level of corruption in the province can be easily gauged from the fact that gold biscuits, bonds and foreign currency worth billions of rupees were recovered in a recent raid on the residence of an audit official serving in the finance ministry,” he added.

“If a grade-14 official has gold biscuits of billions, then launches filled with gold can be recovered from the ministers of the Sindh government,” said Sheikh, claiming that LG and audit officials recently caught with lots of black money have relations with provincial ministers and the chief minister.

“If LG representatives were to have financial and administrative powers and they were to commit such crimes, their electorate would hold them accountable for their wrong deeds because the people would have access to them.”