LAHORE: Punjab Local Government Minister Zeeshan Rafiq has said that the legislative process is underway to conduct local bodies elections in Punjab; the provincial cabinet will soon approve the draft law after which the matter will go to the Punjab Assembly.

He stated this while addressing a round table conference on local democratic governments here on Monday. Civil society representatives, senior journalists and others also participated in the conference.

The minister further said that there is ambiguity in the law made by the former government; the Local Government Act 2019 called for the abolition of the Union Council, the basic unit of local bodies. He termed the Local Government Act of the previous government as unworkable, adding that the division between cities and villages was abolished in this law, which created complexity in the system. “It is clear that cities have their problems and rural populations have their issues,” he added.

He regretted that elected local bodies were not allowed to flourish in the past decades. Still, the Muslim League-N had a track record of conducting local bodies elections during its tenure.

He reminded that PML-N President Nawaz Sharif strengthened the local bodies during his tenure as prime minister; still, the following government sent the local bodies of the Muslim League-N government home.

“However, the preparation for holding local body elections in Punjab is in progress and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has set up a high-level committee within a month of assuming power, which has studied various systems and sent the recommendations of the new bill to the cabinet,” he added.

He averred that the town committee and the council are being added to the new local bodies system.

“We completed all this within a few months. In this regard, financial aspects are also considered,” he added.

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 would continue in the future too.”

He added that all sections of the society would be represented in the new draft law.

Referring to the municipal elections, the minister said that there is no delay on the part of the Punjab government, but it is a fact that the legal procedures take time.

“Delimitation after a 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.

“For the first time, solid waste management is being introduced at the rural level, which would lead to a pleasant change. By utilizing the same resources, which have been available for years, exemplary cleaning measures were taken throughout Punjab on the recent Eidul Azha. The main credit of the high sanitation arrangements goes to the Chief Minister,” he added.

On this occasion, the participants emphasised the need for early holding of local body elections in Punjab.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024