ISLAMABAD, Jan 24: The outdated Cantonment Act-1924 is being amended to delegate more administrative and financial powers to all 43 cantonment boards in the country, National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) Chairman Daniyal Aziz told Dawn on Monday.

About the holding of local government polls in all cantonment areas, the NRB chief said elections in all cantonment boards would be held in 2005 and now there was no ambiguity about it.

"It has been decided at a very high level that local government elections would be held in all cantonment areas by addressing all reservations of all stakeholders," he added.

The amendments in the Cantonment Act, he said, would bring drastic changes in the functioning of cantonment boards and district governments as well because, for the first time, the elected members of the boards would also be the members of district council.

"This will create better interaction between the district governments and cantonment boards to resolve their disputes," he observed. As a result of dual representation of elected members of the board, the dispute between cantonment boards and district governments on different issues like area limits, provision of civic services to the people and collection of taxes and duties would be resolved.

He said under the amended act, the number of elected members in all cantonment boards would be increased for the first time in the country to give more representation to the public representatives so that the problems of the people could be addressed.

In this connection, he said, a total of 130 union councils would be established in all 43 cantonments in the country. "May be the number of board's members in different boards would not be the same because it would vary on the basis of area, population and size of the cantonments," he said. However, the number of nominated members of the board, which would be from the army, would be equal to the number of elected members, he said.

The Cantonment Act-1924 had already been amended in 2002 through an ordinance promulgated by President Gen Pervez Musharraf for holding local government elections in the cantonment areas and introducing new administrative and financial structure in all cantonment boards. "Now it should be clear to all that the government is committed to introduce local government system also in cantonment areas," the NRB chief said.

POWERS OF CANTONMENTS: Meanwhile, a source said under the amended act, cantonment boards would be empowered to approve taxes, cess, rates, rents, fees, user-charges, toll, levies and duties proposed by the cantonment administrations as specified in the first schedule.