Karachi: ‘Land allotment powers to be taken away from Nazims soon’

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Fasahat Mohiuddin
All four provinces have submitted their proposals to the federal government to decide whether the present local government (LG) system in the country should be abolished or retained with some amendments and are unanimous in the call to roll back this system, Sindh Minister for Local government Agha Siraj Durrani.

He said these proposals on the system, which is being viewed as the brainchild of former President Pervez Musharraf, will now be submitted to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, who, after going through it, will submit it to the Law department for legal opinion.

The prime minister will then send it to the Parliament for debate.

Durrani said President Asif Ali Zardari has the power to cancel the notification regarding the local government and, as a result, this system will not prevail.

However, he said, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government wants to make all the decisions with consensus. Replying to a question, Durrani said in his proposal he has urged the federal government to bring back the old magisterial system and land use should be allotted by the government only and not by the Nazims, he stressed.

Moreover, Durrani emphasised that the powers of Nazims have to be curtailed at every level as they can never act like Chief Ministers, he maintained. He said that a proposal will come very soon by virtue of which Nazims will not have the powers to allot land as only the government can do so. Furthermore, very soon land schemes will be announced in each district and land will be allotted to poor citizens, Durrani said. Also, the Shaheed Mohtarma Bhutto scheme will be launched for which land will be acquired from the Revenue department, he added.

Durrani further said that an inquiry will launched to probe how billions of rupees are utilised at the discretion of Nazims and where these funds go.

Durrani said that he has no grudges against the city government and is simply asking them to send him the proposals of all development schemes so that the provincial government can see its viability in order to release funds for it.

Commenting on the common perception that, when amendments will be made in this system or it is rolled back, it will face resistance, Durrani said ‘coalition friends’ will be informed that all the provinces have reached a consensus to make drastic changes to this system and that one has to follow the Constitution.

It may be noted that National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB) chairman who is out of the country had said that Durrani has not submitted proposals for bringing amendments or retaining this system to the NRB. In this regard, Durrani said, “I am not supposed to submit these proposals to the NRB.”

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=140849