Local govt elections to be held in a year: Punjab minister

LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Local Government Muhammad Basharat Raja on Thursday announced that new local bodies elections would be held within a year, ARY News reported.

“Village councils will be given Rs40 billion,” Basharat Raja said while talking to media in Lahore.

He said representatives of the local government would be made powerful. People would spend money through their decisions in the new system, in which powers would be devolved to lower level, he said.

The law minister said metropolitan corporation would be in urban areas. He said the government had resolved to provide relief to the masses.

He said hopefully the new system would be introduced before the budget session.

Raja said the government wanted to make masses powerful.

On March 5, Basharat Raja had said that the Punjab government was committed to empower the local bodies of province by enacting a new powerful law in coming days.

He had said this while presiding over a meeting of the chairmen of district councils gathered at the Civil Secretariat from across the province.

The minister had said that his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, was also determined to bring real change at grass root level in accordance with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

“This is possible only by transferring the powers to the local authorities that could serve the people more effectively and immediately.”