KARACHI: New system may fail if funds not made available: City Nazim warns...
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 9: Speakers at a seminar on devolution plan feared that lack of financial resources, limited administrative freedom and non-availability of quality leadership may prove a setback to the local government system.
They said devolution of power at grassroots level was not different from the systems of governance introduced in the past by some other army generals, which finally proved a device to strengthen their positions and they finally assumed the character of a representative leadership.
It was further stated that the reasons behind the failure of the such governments be identified and the new system should not be aimed to benefit one person or a group of people, but it should be a government of the people, for the people and by the people.
The seminar on “Devolution plan and its impact” was organized by the students of the Department of Public Administration, University of Karachi, on Tuesday at the campus.
City Nazim Naimatullah Khan said the establishment of the local government under the devolution plan was a new experiment in the country, which has ended the 150 year-old colonial legacy.
Although the new system has been accepted by the bureaucracy at the lower level, the bureaucracy at the upper strata was still creating hurdles in the smooth functioning of the system, he added.
Referring to his experiences, he said, among other things, the city government was also faced with financial constraints.
He said he said that till June 2002, the Sindh government would stop providing finances for onwards payment to the city government employees, which at present numbered around 125,000, but their number would increase to 210,000 after the devolution of the police department and the water and sewerage board.
He said that the city government did not have adequate money for undertaking development projects in the city and the situation would aggravate further when the government would have to meet the salary component of its employees through its available resources.
He said an amount of Rs3.5 billion was available as matching grant in lieu of octroi, which was abolished in 1998, while the city government was generating Rs 1 or one-and-a-half billion from its different resources.
Mr Khan was of the view that federal government should have increased the matching grant at the rate of at least 15 per cent every year since 1998 like the routine increase witnessed in the case of octroi tax collection.
Despite all problems, he said, it could be noted that even the matching grant released through the provincial grant was neither free of any cuts, nor was it released on time.
He said situation and facilities relating to education and health for the people were already in a pathetic condition and that was why the city government was not in favour of imposition of taxes on education and health.
On the other hand, situation pertaining to civic amenities, like water, sewerage and roads were also not satisfactory and needed rectification, but due to non-availability of funds the government was not in a position to undertake development projects, he added.
He maintained that he had proposed certain measures to the President General Pervez Musharraf on behalf of the city government in December last regarding generation of revenue, which were still to be realised.
He revealed that he had already approached the competent authority for allowing the city to collect road and port users cess. He said the city government should be allowed to collect 1-2 per cent of the total cost of commodities being imported in the city.
The deputy chief of Provincial Transition Wing, Local Govt Sindh, Masood Shaikh Khawaja, said the devolution was aimed at establishing sustainable, self-administered and participating institutions of local governments.
He said that the devolution plan would also enable the provincial government to manage its districts through an integrated three-tier system, originating from union councils.
The city police chief, Asad Jahangir Khan, talked bout the police reforms being undertaken under the devolution plan. The major thrust of the reforms, he said, was to deconcentrate power, making the police responsive to a democratic system and develop specialisation to improve the police performance.
DIG Traffic Saud Ahmed Mirza, Dean Faculty of Arts, University of Karachi, Dr Abuzar Wajidi, in charge of the Department of Public Administration, Akhtar Baloch, and Mahmood Sham also spoke.
