PESHAWAR, Aug 6: Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan are reported to be in favour of the step taken by NWFP to establish regional coordination offices (RCOs) and virtually revive the defunct offices of commissioners dismantled in 2001.
Officials of the three provinces had conveyed their desire to emulate the NWFP to a special committee constituted by the federal government for proposing changes in the local bodies system, an official privy to the development told Dawn.
The committee, headed by federal secretary of the local government division, comprises provincial secretaries of the same department.
The committee was set up after a recent ministerial meeting held in Islamabad where local government ministers from the four provinces agreed to introduce changes in the local bodies system introduced by President Pervez Musharraf.
The NWFP government established RCO offices on Jan 11 this year mainly to improve coordination among different tiers of government with focus on law and order. Initially, the prime minister gave approval for three offices, which has now been increased to five.
The offices were opened on the pattern of defunct commissionerates and officers posted as RCOs were given wide administrative powers.
Each RCO is looking after at least five districts and adjoining tribal regions and district coordination officers (DCOs), deputy inspector general police and political agents report to him. The arrangement is viewed as revival of defunct commissionerates.
“Other three provinces want the same system,” said an official.
The official said the issue was discussed in the special committee’s first meeting held on Tuesday in Peshawar. However, he said, the matter would be discussed in detail after all the provinces furnished their reports about changes they wanted in the local bodies system.
The NWFP government has submitted its recommendations to the committee, calling for strengthening the offices of RCOs, reviving the local bodies system of 1979 and the executive magistracy.
The other governments of the provinces have also been advised to present their proposals.
He said the committee would prepare its recommendations for changes in the system and a final decision will be taken at highest political level.
Currently the body was looking at the role of the district government in matters relating to law and order, development and social service delivery, the official said.
For this, he said, local bodies system of 1979 and the existing Local Government Ordinance (LGO-2001) are being reviewed and a report would be sent soon to the federal government.
“Every good system should be open to adjustment,” the official said.
There is a concern among international donor agencies which have invested heavily in putting the existing local bodies system in place, and any move to dismantle the system is likely to make things difficult for the federal government.
The official conceded that the donor agencies had expressed their concerns and the government had decided to take them on board in case it decided to make any change.
The federal government is convening a donors’ conference on Aug 18-19 in Islamabad to seek their opinion on the issue, the official said.