Reforms in LG laws: Input of all political parties to be considered

KARACHI: The first meeting of a high-level committee on reforms in local government laws was held on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah.

The meeting decided that all political parties will be taken into confidence in the process of formulating new local government laws. All proposals will be compiled within three months, after which final recommendations will be prepared.

During the meeting, proposals were presented to strengthen the powers of Deputy Mayors of Union Councils and Vice Chairmen of Towns.

Nasir Hussain Shah mentioned that complaints regarding Union Council funds and the system of checks and balances were received during ministers’ open courts (Khuli Kachehris). He said that in line with the directives of Chairman Bilawal Bhutto, powers must be devolved to the grassroots level to provide relief to the public. Deputy Mayors and Vice Chairmen will be empowered and strengthened through the delegation of authority.

He said that development schemes of a particular area will be handed over to its respective Chairman, while district-level schemes will be assigned to the District Chairman.

The Minister instructed that each Union Council scheme should be of at least five million rupees.

The meeting was also attended by the Secretary of Local Government, Members of the Provincial Assembly Samita Afzal, Qasim Soomro, Jameel Soomro and Qasim Naveed.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025