KARACHI (Urdu Times) All political parties will be taken into confidence for framing new local government laws: Nasir Hussain Shah

KARACHI (Urdu Times) All political parties will be taken into confidence for framing new local government laws: Nasir Hussain Shah

First meeting of the high-level committee on local government law reforms held under the chairmanship of Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah

Karachi The first meeting of the high-level committee on reforms of local government laws was held on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Sindh Minister for Local Government, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah. The meeting was attended by the Secretary Local Government, Members of the Provincial Assembly Samita Afzal, Qasim Soomro, Jameel Soomro, Qasim Naveed, and others.

It was decided in the meeting that all political parties would be taken into confidence regarding the new local government laws, and their suggestions would also be sought. All proposals will be collected within a period of three months, after which final recommendations will be prepared.

Proposals were presented in the meeting to strengthen the powers of Union Council Deputy Mayors and Town Vice Chairmen. Addressing the meeting, Minister Nasir Hussain Shah stated that complaints regarding Union Council funds and checks and balances are being received during the ministers’ open courts (Khuli Katcheries).

In accordance with the directives of Chairman Bilawal Bhutto, powers must be devolved to the grassroots level in order to provide relief to the public. He emphasized the need to empower Deputy Mayors and Vice Chairmen by granting them appropriate authority.

He further stated that schemes related to a specific area will be handed over to the Chairman of that area, while district-level schemes will be given to the respective District Chairman. Each Union Council scheme should be of at least five million rupees.

During the meeting, it was also decided to appoint Zain-ul-Abideen as the focal person of the committee.