QAT recommends changes in new draft of Sindh LG bill

HYDERABAD: The Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT), which was an ally in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led 10-party electoral alliance in Sindh, has recommended changes in the new draft of the Sindh Local Government Bill which will be tabled in the Sindh Assembly for enactment.

According to a press release issued here on Sunday, the QAT's President Advocate Ayaz Palijo has said his party believes that local problems could be solved at the local level as the communities were diverse and had distinct issues and needs.

"They should be given representation in order to ensure equity in development. This is the guiding principle behind local government. But a local government that denies genuine and substantive representation to the indigenous people will remain skewed and will never serve the purpose," said Palijo.

The QAT, he added, recommends that there should be a uniform local government system in the sense that all the 27 districts in Sindh operated under the same system.

"The LG system should in no way violate the provisions of provincial autonomy and the constitution," he said suggesting that the metropolitan and district councils should be placed under the ultimate authority of the provincial government.

He also proposed that a councillor should be given representation of up to 1,500 people and not more while adequate representation of women and minorities should also be ensured and the local government should be able to articulate aggregated demands and aspirations of all marginalised social groups.

QAT further recommends that in the new law all the districts of Sindh should be given equal treatment in terms of authority, responsibility, resources and mandate and equal status be accorded to the current five districts of Karachi like other districts of the province.

Allocation of development funds should be made through transparent, fair, rights-based and needs-based criteria like poverty, gender gaps, geographic backwardness and development gap, he added.

QAT recommends that the rural areas, which were chronically impoverished and under developed, be given development funds, urban-based tax exemptions and a reserved share in jobs and admissions to academic institutions.

The QAT President strongly advocates for keeping the police, revenue, land management, law, education and other important subjects under the purview of the Provincial Government and that the local government employees of BPS 16 and above should be recruited through the Sindh Public Service Commission.

About the elections of the chairmen and mayors he said that they should be answerable to all the voters of the district while accountability and transparency should be ensured under the constitutional and legal framework of the province.