May 11, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 5, 1429

ISLAMABAD, May 10: Special audit of the local governments has started in 35 districts of Punjab, involving hundreds of professionals in the exercise, with the director-general of audit, local governments Punjab, supervising it.

An official told Dawn that separate audit offices in each of the districts were already functional.

The request for the audit was made by the PML-N-led government in Punjab.

The Pakistan Muslim League-N in its recent announcements has rejected the local government system and demanded its abolition.

The PML-Q has opposed the move and said it would not allow the abolition of the LG system which had been protected by the Constitution.

PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has said his party is not afraid of the audit, but will oppose any move for an audit by foreign auditors.

The PML-N and PPP also have divergent views on the LG system. The PML-N wants the system scrapped, but the PPP believes that there is a need to reform it.

A PML-N leader told Dawn that the LG system had been introduced to solve the problems of people at the grassroots level, but it had failed to do so. He alleged that the system was devised to suppress the opposition and bypass the national and provincial assemblies.

He said the decision to abolish the posts of deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners had created confusion while nazims had failed to check price hike and maintain law and order.

He pointed out that Gen (retd) Tanveer Naqvi, who devised the LG system, had admitted that it was a mistake. The PML-N leader said that the previous government had used the local governments for achieving political gains. “Handpicked corrupt people have been inducted into price control committees,” he said.

PML-Q’s central information secretary said there was nothing wrong with the LG system. However, he said, shortcomings, if any, in the system should be removed.