LAHORE: PML-Q leader and MNA Moonis Elahi has raised serious objections over the new Local Government Bill recently passed by the Punjab Assembly. Moonis Elahi whose party is a coalition partner with the PTI both at the Centre and in Punjab took to twitter on Friday to voice his party’s reservations about the new legislation as he called it a disaster. According to him, the local bodies’ law had several inherent faults. In his tweet, Moonis specifically mentioned the significant increase in the number of village councils (Panchayats) from existing 4000 plus to 24,000. This, he said, will increase the administrative cost by six times. A minimum of Rs8 billion will be wasted on salaries and other expenses every year, he said. “Went through it [LG bill] with several PTI leaders who are so impressed with “Bahir Aisay hota hai” that they have lost touch with ground reality,” he observed. Moonis advised the PTI leadership to rethink their strategy of copy and pasting of KP formula. “KP and Punjab can’t be compared. The difference in size of population is huge. PTI needs to rethink strategy of copy and pasting KP formula,” he remarked.  It may be recalled here that since the formation of coalition government in Punjab, it has been a common complaint of the PML-Q leadership that Punjab government did not bother to consult them over important issues. Several meetings held between the PTI and PML-Q leaders in the past six months have not been helpful to address the latter’s grievance in this regard.

PML-Q WAS TAKEN INTO CONFIDENCE: BASHARAT

Reacting to Moonis Elahi’s tweet, Punjab Minister for Law and Local Government Mohammad Basharat Raja Friday said that the PTI government had taken its allied party, the PML-Q, into confidence before passage of the local government bill by the Punjab Assembly. The minister said that this bill was reflective of Prime Minister’s vision to bring a visible change in status quo.