Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Monday that the Sindh government has passed a "revolutionary" Local Government Act, claiming that the law is better than those implemented in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Aaj News reported.

“The fact is that the latest legislation passed by the provincial assembly of Sindh is an improved version of our previous local bodies act and much better than Musharraf’s law,” Bilawal said while addressing a press conference in Karachi.

“Nobody, not even a peon gives away his powers, but our government in Sindh is empowering local bodies by granting them financial autonomy,” he claimed.

Through the new Act, the financial powers, which rested with the Sindh government before the passage of this law, have now moved to the local bodies.

Power tariff hike ‘economic murder’: Bilawal

According to the new system, the one percent tax of immovable properties, as well as the annual property tax will directly go to the government.

“When local bodies will collect their own taxes, their revenue problems will be sorted,” he said.

Criticising the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, the PPP chairman said that the federal government is planning to conduct local bodies’ elections through an ordinance.

“Those who are criticizing the Sindh Local Govt Act, have taken away the educational institutions and health facilities from the local bodies in Islamabad,” Bilawal said, adding that the PTI government had not consulted even their allies while approving the new Local Govt Act in Punjab.

Bilawal said that the Sindh government had politically empowered the local bodies through the new act.

He said that the primary health and educational institutions, as well as the local law and order institutions, will submit fortnightly reports of their performances to their respective union councils.