KARACHI: Sindh govt seeks changes to SLGO: Task force reconstituted
KARACHI, Feb 25: The Sindh government has reconstituted the task force for devolution of power to prepare recommendations for changes to the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO) for proper monitoring of the working of Nazims and an effective check-and-balance system
This was stated by Sindh Minister for Local Government, Mohammad Hussain, at a press briefing at his office here on Tuesday.
The provincial minister said there were many flaws in the SLGO and the recently constituted task force would suggest how to make it more effective.
The Sindh chief minister is chairman of the task force and the provincial local government minister is its deputy chairman. The other members of the force are the Sindh ministers for finance and law, the secretary of the local government department and the secretary to the governor. The chief secretary will be the secretary of the task force.
The minister said that in a recent meeting with the chairman and other high officials of the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) he had suggested changes to the SLGO to make the local government system accountable and effective.
He said the NRB chairman had also agreed to increase the share of Sindh in the grant given to the local bodies in lieu of the octroi system. The province has been receiving Rs6.4 billion on account of octroi replacement since 1997-98, when the octroi system was dissolved and the federal government agreed to provide equal amount of the octroi collection to the provinces.
“Our demanded that the amount be increased to Rs11 billion was agreed to by the NRB chairman; the amount would be provided from the next fiscal year,” The minister said.
He said the provincial government had suggested changes to the SLGO so that MPAs and MNAs could also play a role in development projects in their respective constituencies.
For this purpose, he said, the provincial government had recommended formation of development committees in each district, consisting of MNAs, MPAs and Nazims, to supervise development works.
He said that under the SLGO the Sindh Local Government Commission was not an effective forum, and added that the commission should be made powerful so that it could take action against irregularities and suspend Nazims and officers.
He further said: “In Sindh many changes have been made in the various civic organizations which have affected their working. For example, nowhere in the country the developing authorities of the major cities have been devolved, but the Karachi Development Authority, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board and other organisations have been devolved without any prior preparation. This step has affected the functioning of these organizations and development work in the cities.”
The minister added that the Peshawar Development Authority, the Lahore Development Authority and Quetta Development Authority had still not been devolved. He said that Hyderabad had faced catastrophe in the recent rains due to the devolution of Water and Sewerage Authority there.
“Likewise, the KWSB has been divided and given under control of the Karachi city government, even though it has installations in other districts like Thatta, Badin and Hub, which has affected the functioning of the organization.—APP
