KARACHI - Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Sunday said that the Local Government System in Sindh was not in accordance with the spirit of the constitution.
He expressed these views while addressing to inauguration ceremony of PTI Secretariat in PS 98 Shah Faisal Colony. Asad Umar said that under the constitution, the local governments had financial, political and administrative powers while the LG had none of these powers.
“The new reforms will empower the people in true sense,” he expressed these views while addressing the gathering at Jaccababad.
He said that the developmental works were underway all over the Sindh province by the provincial government but accountability process of political leaders seemed to be at zero percent.
The minister informed that PPP had completely failed to develop the Jaccababad district, however, PTI government has started number of developmental projects in different districts of Sindh province including Jaccababad.
He said all the provinces sought assistance from Federal Government for development projects but Sindh Government, on the contrary, was creating hurdles for federal development projects.
Federal Minister said that there should be such an empowered system in which the elected representatives of local governments should not be at the mercy of the provincial government. For the purpose, PTI and MQM had filed a petition in the Supreme Court. Asad Umar said, “This petition could have been filed by anyone on behalf of PTI but we wanted to send a message to the people of Karachi that this issue is equal to other major issues of Pakistan for us and that is why Prime Minister Imran Khan and I have personally signed the petition.”
The Federal Minister said that a hearing had been held on the petition. He hoped that the Supreme Court would direct the Sindh government to make the Local Government Act in accordance with the spirit of the constitution. He said that local government elections would be held this year and the elections be held under the new system.
He said that no one could do better accountability than masses. There should be a proper local government system where the elected representative should reside in the same neighborhood and public could hold him accountable.
Earlier, opposition leader in Sindh Assembly, Haleem Adil Shaikh, MPA Aslam Abro, PTI PS-98 Member Sindh Assembly Adeel Ahmed, NA-239 Member National Assembly Muhammad Ikram Cheema, PTI Leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi, PTI Karachi Information Secretary Jamal Siddiqui, a large number of workers and people of the area attended the gathering. PTI leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi, MNA Muhammad Ikram Cheema, MPA Jamal Siddiqui and others also addressed the gathering.
