QUETTA, April 26: National Reconstruction Bureau Chairman Daniyal Aziz has said the district government system will in no way infringe upon provincial autonomy.

“In fact, the system has curtailed the autonomy of bureaucracy which is now creating trouble by engaging Nazims and ministers in a dispute over division of powers,” he said at the “Hal-o-Ahwal” programme of Quetta Press Club here on Saturday.

He said the Nazims and ministers should work in the spheres defined for them in the law, and none should exceed their limits when performing official business.

He dispelled the impression that the district government system was aimed at paving the way for a unitary form of government in the country.

Without naming name, he said some “mischievous” person was active to harm the system that was designed to ensure transfer of powers at the grass-roots level.

He claimed that the Musharraf government had taken a bold step by replacing the century-old “alien system” with the one that included the common man in the decision-making process “when policies are framed and projects implemented.”

He acknowledged facing difficulties, but said it did not mean “we should wind up the system”.

He said the Nazims enjoyed real powers, more than the bureaucracy or the police, and this represented a real change.

Separately, speaking at the local bodies convention organized by the Councillors Awami Ittehad, Balochistan, he declared that the government will not allow elected MNAs and MPAs to interfere in the working of the new local governments.

He said that members of the national and provincial assemblies were trying to interfere in the local governments affairs. The government will make all-out efforts to check their intervention, he added.

He said the MNAs and MPAs wanted to promote their politics on the basis of constructing streets and drains using public money as they did in the past.

“We have changed the system and now MNAs and MPAs can only identify schemes regarding electricity, gas and telephone,” the NRB chief announced.

He said all the development works at the district, town and union council level will be carried out through the local governments.

Mr Aziz said the bureaucracy was not ready to surrender its powers that it enjoyed in the past, which was why the local governments were facing problems. However, he said the government will not allow the bureaucracy to create hurdles in the working of these institutions.

City District Nazim, Mohammed Rahim Kakar, informed the NRB chief about the problems of the district government and sought his assistance in resolving them.