The Punjab government has allocated a huge amount of Rs 148 billion as surplus in the budget of 2018-19. The major portion of this amount will be utilized by new local government bodies for development. Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Raja Basharat said this while talking to reporters who cover Punjab Assembly on Friday. He said the draft of proposed new local government system has been finalised and expected to be presented in the joint meeting of law department and local government which is supposed to be held next week.
He also said Prime Minister Imran Khan, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervez Elahi are taking keen interest in the implementation process of the proposed local government system. Local bodies' institutions were being strengthened for achieving the goal of a new Pakistan, he added.
While sharing salient features of the proposed system, the minister said rural areas will have directly elected chairmen and deputy chairmen, and their election will also be held on party basis. However, the members of neighbourhood councils in cities and village councils in rural areas would be elected in a non-party based election. The existing union council in the cities under the present system has been renamed as neighbourhood council.
These councils will have three elected and an equal number of non-elected members. Three seats have been reserved for youth, women and minorities. A population base of 10,000 to 20,000 has been fixed for these councils depending on various factors. The number of rural union councils in Punjab will be increased from 4016 to 7000.
A different mode of election for three directly elected seats of councillors in a neighbourhood and village council has been proposed. The candidates coming at number first, second and third position would be declared elected out of any number of candidates contesting for the three seats. There would be no tier of tehsil municipalities in the new system.
Under the proposed law, 30 percent funds meant for Annual Development Programme (ADP) of provincial government would be given to the local bodies to carry out development work. Similarly, 30 percent of total budget allocation of provincial local government department would be given to the neighbourhood and village councils for their development schemes. He said that it would be for the first time in history that Punjab Government would be handing over 30 percent funds of its developmental budget to the local bodies' institutions.
He further said there would be no overlapping of functions as the jurisdiction of each tier - provincial, district and neighbourhood/village council - would be clearly defined in the new law. The Minister said even a councillor would be recommending developmental schemes and spending millions of rupees for the welfare of the masses under the new system.
The minister further stated that financial and administrative powers enjoyed by the chief minister in the past would now be with the mayor of every city and people's problems would be solved at local level as per their aspirations.
Raja Basharat hoped that budget session of 2019-20 will be held in the new building of Punjab Assembly as the government has allocated a considerable amount for this purpose.
While talking about the implementation of National Action Plan, the law minister said though provinces had already done a lot for its implementation, yet a lot more is required to be done in this area. Both federal and Punjab governments are working together to implement NAP in letter and spirit, he added. He further commented that the government is planning to establish new universities and hospitals in the province in order to provide health and educational facilities to the people of Punjab.