RAWALPINDI: For the first time, the elected members from 12 cantonment boards of Rawalpindi Division will join hands against the 1924 Cantonment Act, which, what they said, has failed to empower the elected members of the civic body.

Elected Vice Presidents of Chaklala, Rawalpindi, Attock, Wah, Taxila, Murree, Havalian, Kharian, Jhelum, Dina and Abbottabad will meet at Chaklala Cantonment Board on Thursday to prepare a joint resolution for the ministry of defence and the federal government to amend 1924 Cantonment Act.

Talking to Dawn, Chaklala Cantonment Board Vice President Raja Irfan Imtiaz said the elected members had no say in the matters of civic bodies of cantonment areas and there was a need to amend the cantonment act prepared by British Authorities before the partition of Indian Sub-continent.

He said that the meeting was called to chalk out a plan for the betterment of the residents of cantonment areas and improvement in the working of civic bodies. “The meeting will be held at Chaklala Cantonment Board offices,” he said.

“The elected Vice Presidents wanted powers equal to that of city mayor. If the elected mayor of Islamabad had authority and perks and privileges then such things should be provided to the vice presidents of cantonment boards also,” he said.

He said in Islamabad the federal government had introduced new laws giving powers to mayor to run run the affairs of the federal capital but it ignored the cantonment areas.

He said that elected members wanted to get the amendments in the laws through National Assembly and the Senate. “After the consultations with all the vice presidents of the Rawalpindi Division, the joint resolution will be sent to Defence Ministry as well as federal government seeking an en end to to the act,” he said.

He said in cantonment areas, the civilian population was facing water shortage and need development projects and that could not be done without the help of the federal government as the cantonment boards fell in the jurisdiction of the federal government.

He said elected members of municipal corporations and municipal committees were getting honorarium and development funds so that the residents of their area would get better civic facilities but the elected members of the cantonment boards remained toothless and helpless.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2017