RAWALPINDI, June 30: Uncertainty continues to prevail over the issues of local government polls in the cantonment and bifurcation of the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB), Dawn has learnt.

With only three months left for the general elections, the plethora of consultants in the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) have yet to announce the details of the devolution plan in the cantonment.

Even the decision whether the local government polls should be held before the general elections or after it has not yet been taken, an NRB official told Dawn.

Sources said the highly-paid consultants in the NRB, mostly comprising retired and serving army officials, had not yet come up with a concrete blueprint of what shape the local governments would have in the cantonment.

When the NRB officials, who are working on the cantonment devolution plan, were asked about the details of the local government elections, they said these would be finalized within a week or two.

The same is the case with the bifurcation of Rawalpindi Cantonment. The plan was approved last year and was supposed to become effective from July the same year. But, despite the passage of one year, no final decision has yet been taken, the sources said.

If the confusion prolongs, the budget 2002-03 of the cantonment board may also be delayed, a source said.

They said the RCB bifurcation plan might be abandoned after the local government system was extended to the cantonment area. But, confusion prevails over the issue as no official announcement has so far been made.

This uncertain situation has put the RCB authorities in a fix, a cantonment official said on condition of anonymity.

“We are also being kept in the dark by the NRB officials about the future plan. We do not know whether to start preparing for the local polls or work on the bifurcation issue,” he added.