MULTAN, Nov 26: City District Nazim Mian Faisal Mukhtar has warned that the abolition of the local government system can accelerate the movement for a separate province in southern Punjab.

Talking to a delegation of senior researchers from the National Management College Lahore here on Wednesday, the district nazim said the local government system had helped decrease the sense of deprivation among the people of southern Punjab owing to the progress made in education, health sectors and improvement in civic infrastructure in Multan and Bahawalpur under the system.

He said due to the contradictory statements by the provincial and federal governments regarding the fate of local government system, the nazims, government officials and masses had become confused.

He said the issue of keeping or leaving the system was being politicised without considering its actual merits or demerits, adding that it was weakening the institution.

He said instead of this, the government should give a clear verdict on the issue and amendments be made in the Constitution to give certain powers to bureaucracy.

He regretted the stakeholders – district and town nazims -- were not being taken in confidence regarding the fate of the system and added they (nazims) were the right persons to approach if the government wanted to introduce some meaningful changes in the system.

He said the confusion had rendered the local government system paralysed, hitting the development activities in the district.

He said hepatitis screening of school children and establishment of town hospitals, CPR labs, dialysis centers and free eye camps were positive steps taken by the district government. Free of cost eye surgery campaign at rural health centers would start after the Eid with the support of Mukhtar A Sheikh Welfare Trust.

He said appointing of commissioners was an appreciable step of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif but giving districts’ powers to provincial government was an act of ‘duplicity’.