Govt committed to empowering LG govts, says KP CM

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur said on Saturday that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was committed to empowering the local governments and the proposed amendments would make them more effective.

He was speaking at a meeting to address the issues facing the local government representatives. A delegation of local government representatives included Himayatullah Mayar, Inamullah khan, Sardar Shuja Nabi, Farhad Khan, Azizullah Afridi and others attended the meeting

The chief minister reiterated the provincial government’s commitment to strengthening local bodies financially and administratively, aligning it with the vision of PTI founder chairman Imran Khan.

The chief minister remarked that empowering local governments would enable them to address public issues at the grassroots level, benefiting both the provincial government and the citizens. “The provincial government is taking priority steps to resolve issues faced by local representatives,” he said, adding that monthly remuneration and allowances for tehsil chairmen has been increased from Rs30,000 to Rs 80,000. Whereas Rs. 466 million was released for village and neighborhood councils in settled districts, and Rs 94 million for those in merged districts recently. Moreover, he added that Rs. 548 million had been released for TMAs (Tehsil Municipal Administrations) in settled districts and Rs. 33 million for merged districts.

He added that Rs 350 million was approved to hold sports activities under local governments in the merged districts, whereas provision of vehicles for Tehsil chairmen would be completed within a few days. Ali Amin Gandapur said that substantial funds have also been released to clear outstanding dues of local bodies. Appreciating the Chief Minister’s personal involvement in addressing their concerns, the delegation of local bodies representatives announced the cancellation of their call for protest scheduled on 30th of this month. Earlier, the meeting discussed threadbare the proposed amendments to the Tehsil Local Government Rules of Business 2022 suggested by the local bodies representatives, and almost all of the proposed amendments were agreed in principle which would be tabled in the provincial cabinet for final approval. It was also decided that a meeting will be held to address other legitimate demands of the local bodies representatives.