RAWALPINDI, Nov 13: Suspended members of the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) have expressed reservation on the draft Cantonment Ordinance 2002.

The members said the powers of the board have been given to the station commander.

They said the draft has been prepared by non-professional people of the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) in haste. It had secured the rights of the serving army personnel and left the civilian population at the mercy of the station commander and 22 members from the army, they added.

They maintained that the powers, enjoyed by the board in the Cantonment Act 1924, have been shifted to its president who would be an appointee of the army authorities.

The suspended members of the board said given the dominant status of the army-appointed representatives in board, the local government system in the cantonment would only be a formality. A former member of the board, Haji Ijaz, said the draft ordinance give the president sweeping powers and the elected representatives would only fill in the blanks.