Provincial Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Local Government (LG) Raja Basharat has said that the role of civil society in creating awareness about the new Punjab LG Act 2019 and capacity building of LG representatives was very crucial. He stated it during a meeting with a delegation of civil society held at Darbar Hall, civil secretariat on Wednesday.
Appreciating the new LG law, the members of delegation suggested some amendments in the law regarding reduction in the minimum age for a LG candidate from 25 to 22 years and giving 33% representation to the women at all levels of the LGs.
Answering the queries of the participants, Raja Basharat said that the new Punjab LG law was drafted with the deep consultation of almost all stakeholders wherein 14 amendments proposed by the opposition were included in the draft. He said, "Punjab LG law enjoys complete ownership and commitment of the government as Prime Minister Imran Khan himself chaired almost 17 meetings held during its drafting process. "I think the defunct LBs were toothless and resource less as the PML-N government didn't permit their LB representatives to take oath for two years. It was known that the PML-N government allocated Rs. 50 Billion for LBs but actually they could receive only 10 percent of that budget. On the other side, our LBs will receive almost 100 billions rupees directly from the Punjab Government." He said there was no separate identity of a citizen living in a vast Union Council but Panchayat will give him a visible identity as each village will be a separate local body in its place.