January 24, 2003	Friday	Ziqa’ad 20, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 23: Chairman National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) Daniyal Aziz has said the government will hold local government (LG) elections in all cantonment boards in near future.

Talking to the newsmen at his office here on Thursday, the NRB chairman said Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali had already issued instructions to hold local government polls in all cantonments as soon as possible.

He said the NRB had been given an important task to prepare new Cantonment Act and other modalities to run these boards in a better way after the local government elections.

He said the NRB would finalize the draft of new Cantonment Act by the end of the current month and it would be sent to the ministry of law for vetting.

He said the NRB was working hard to make all arrangements for holding LG polls in all cantonment boards. “We are also looking into the legal aspects of the LG system to be introduced for the first time in cantonment boards,” he added.

The NRB chairman said meetings were being held with the military authorities to discuss the local government plan in cantonment areas.

An official of the Directorate General of Cantonment Boards told Dawn that earlier the elections in all cantonment boards in Punjab were scheduled to be held on May 20, 2001, simultaneously, with the local bodies elections in Punjab, but due to some reasons they were delayed.

Talking about LG elections in the capital, the NRB chairman said LG polls in Islamabad would be held in March.

When contacted, an official of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration said they were waiting for the issuance of schedule from the interior ministry for holding the polls. “We have completed all arrangements to hold LG elections, but without getting schedule in hand the process of elections cannot be started,” he added.

He said the government had allocated Rs1 billion for the local governments in the 2003-2004 budget.

He said: “An allocation of a similar amount or more will become a regular feature in the national budgets.”

He said the NRB would distribute the amount among all union councils through respective district revenue officers.

Responding to a question about difference of opinion between the newly-elected MNAs, MPAs and district Nazim over distribution of funds, Mr Aziz said the funds to be given to each MNA and MPA would also be utilized on uplift projects with a view to providing better civic amenities to the people.

Therefore, there is no question of clash of interest in utilization of funds. However, the NRB has diverted the government’s attention in this regard so that such issues could be settled amicably, he said.

Referring to similar problems faced by even the developed countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, Mr Aziz said the government and the NRB were striving to overcome these problems.

“Local governments are still facing many hardships in running the new system, but, with the passage of time, their performance will be improved,” he said.

Many remote areas, the chairman said, lacked water supply system, besides sanitation and land managements, and the NRB had been working to formulate methods for the provision of such services in these areas.

Responding to a question about posting and transfer of officials of grade 20 and above through Prime Minister Secretariat, he said some elements were opposing the decision, but it was the government’s right to take any decision in this regard.