Members of the Senate standing committee on local government developed a consensus over the need to review the present local government system and incorporate certain amendments in the present local government structure to enhance the performance of the present local government system. The consensus was built at a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee held here at Civil Secretariat on Monday.
The meeting was presided over by Senator Mohabat Khan Mari. The agenda of the meeting was to review the detail of allocation of funds by the ministry of local government and rural development under Peoples Works Program-1(PWP-1) and PWP-2 for the province of Punjab during the current financial year.
The committee was told that the delay in disbursement of funds is caused because of the application of 15 percent release ceiling by the Ministry of Finance, release of funds through assignment fund accounts, slow identification of development projects by the parliamentarians and slow processing of projects proposals by the concerned agencies.
The issue of Katchi Abadis and encroachments over the government land also came under discussion. It was recommended that the provincial government should formulate tough laws for the eradication of Qabza Groups from the province. The meeting was attended by Sardar Dost Muhammad Khosa Provincial Minister for Local Government, Senator Dr Khalid Ranjha, Senator Hafiz Rashid Ahmad, Senator Lieutenant General Javed Ashraf Qazi (Retd), Federal Minister of State for Local Government and Rural Development Masood Abbas and Secretary Local Government of Punjab.