HYDERABAD, Jan 30: The constitution of local government commission has already been notified which will take decisions in respect of the local bodies and issue clarifications in case of any confusion.

This was said by the Sindh minister for local government, labour and industry, Deewan Mohammad Yousuf Farooqui, while speaking at a news conference at the Shahbaz Hall here on Wednesday.

He said the commission would hold its first meeting on Monday.

He said that the taluka councils, union councils and district government had distinct functions to perform and confusions in this regard had been removed at the meeting of the Nazims concerned.

The minister said that on pointation of various councils that officers of the councils were holding dual charges, it had been decided that henceforth each officer would hold one charge.

He said the funds stuck up with the public health engineering department were being transferred to the respective talukas and added that the taluka councils would henceforth complete the development projects in their respective areas.

He said the development schemes of phase-II under the Khushhal Pakistan Programme had been completed and the schemes of third phase would also be completed by June 30, 2002.

When asked why the octroi duty and export tax were abolished when the government had totally failed to pay salaries to the local bodies employees, he said that the two levies had to be abolished due to massive corruption.

He, however, said that the matter had been brought into the notice of the President of Pakistan by the four provinces who had instructed the federal finance minister to resolve the problems without delay.

Mr Farooqui said the taluka municipal administrations had also been asked by the Sindh government to furnish facts and figures about the salaries and pensions of the retired employees to clear their dues but the taluka councils had not been able to furnish the report and therefore the matter had been delayed.

He said that the taluka councils under the local government ordinance, 2001, had the authority to levy taxes in ten areas including property tax and tax on boarding and hoardings.

When his attention was drawn to the accumulation of dirty water in Pathan colony, which had become a perennial problem, and the decrepit condition of roads, especially the main station road, the Zila Nazim, Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman, explained that out of total allocation of Rs280 million, only Rs35 million had been released at the first instance which had been given to the city and Latifabad talukas.

He said Rs35 million were again released which were given to the remaining five talukas.

SAU: The Sindh Agriculture University Tando Jam has decided to celebrate 2002 as silver jubilee year as the university will be completing 25 years of its existence on March 1.