October 3, 2003	Friday	Sha’aban 6, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, Oct 2: National Reconstruction Bureau chairman Daniyal Aziz on Thursday said the devolution plan would be so reformed as to meet the requirement of the people.

Speaking at a press briefing here, he said the process of amending the plan in consultation with all the stake-holders including parliamentarians was in the final stages and it would finally be reviewed by a high-level committee to be headed by President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Responding to a question, the NRB chief said the devolution plan would not be sent to parliament for final review and approval.

He said a high-level committee would be formed shortly and it would be headed by the president. He said Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali and other parliamentarians would also be the members of this committee.

He said in view of the grievances of MNAs and MPAs, some changes were being made in the devolution plan. “We want to reform the Local Government System and Police Ordinance according to the needs of the people,” he added.

Talking about local government elections in all cantonments, Islamabad and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), he said the polls would be held in all these places simultaneously.

He said new laws for the local government system in cantonment boards had been promulgated.

He said the implementation of the police order which was to take place not later than Sept 30 was the responsibility of the interior ministry.

Meanwhile, in a meeting on “Dialogue on Local Government and Devolution” held here at Parliament House, Mr Aziz said that the devolution plan and district government system were introduced to empower people at the grass-roots level and efforts were on to make them more effective.

He listened to the National Assembly members’ experience regarding the local government and implementation of devolution plan in the meeting.

The MNAs from the treasury and opposition gave various suggestions to improve and make the devolution plan and district governments system more effective.

The NRB chairman briefed the members about the financial and administrative structure of the devolution plan.