LAHORE: Punjab law and local government minister Basharat Raja has said different committees and teams are being constituted to plan, execute and supervise the work related to transition from the old to new local system.

Since the old local bodies system had been abolished, the Punjab government has appointed administrators as heads of local bodies across the province to run the official business.

Explaining salient features of the transitional mode here on Sunday, Mr Raja said a cabinet committee of the Punjab Assembly headed by the local government minister was being constituted, having MPAs as its members, to oversee the a development of a comprehensive transition plan and its implementation.

The committee would also approve the distribution of assets, liabilities and human resource of defunct local bodies (LBs) and issue directions to the departments concerned to ensure a smooth transition, he added.

A ‘Provincial Transition Team’ led by the additional chief secretary and having all administrative secretaries concerned as its members will be responsible for developing the transition plan, propose a regime for the distribution of assets, liabilities and staff among the successor bodies and offices of the provincial government.

Similarly, divisional and district transition teams will be formed under the commissioners and deputy commissioners for the distribution of assets, staff and liabilities in their respective territories as per the guidelines of the Provincial Transition eam and any other assignment related to the task.

The minister said all the legislative and administrative work was going on smoothly.

By enacting the new LG law, he said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government had fulfilled another promise made by Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said the law was capable of empowering people for “a new and sustainable Pakistan”.

VISUALLY IMPAIRED: Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, in a cabinet committee meeting, approved a summary to award contract-based employment to all the visually impaired persons already working in the government departments on daily wages.

Confirming the decision, Mr Raja said the chief minister had directed the chief secretary to ensure compliance of the instructions in all departments through administrative secretaries.

“The PTI government has fulfilled the promise made to the visually impaired employees a few days ago, which shows a strong commitment of the chief minister with his people without any prejudice,” Mr Raja said.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2019