The Express Tribune: Peshawar: Saturday, July 22, 2017.
Members of
local bodies’ and activists on Thursday expressed grave reservations over the
effective implementation of a provincial government reforms agenda and demanded
that new laws are properly implemented.
The Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government was criticised for not properly
implementing several laws such as the Right to Information Act 2013, Right to
Public Service Act 2014 and Local Government Act 2013 in a seminar on ‘Charter
of demands in the status of implementation of provincial laws,’ organised by
the CGPA at a local hotel in Peshawar on Thursday.
Peshawar
District government member Noor Wali Khan strongly criticised the role of RTI
and said that it had failed to provide timely services to the people.
“I submitted
an RTI application for information regarding utilisation of district government
funds allocated to the local bodies in last two years, however, after four
months, I have yet to receive any reply from the concerned department,” he
said.
He added that
if a government body cannot provide services to the public, then why is money
collected from the public to pay high salaries to officials in these bodies, he
asked.
Nowshera
District government member Juma Khan too criticised the incumbent district
nazim, stating that developmental funds were being distributed among people
associated with his party while members of the opposition party were deprived
of funds. He asked the concerned departments to take notice of this issue since
it was injustice with local government members from opposition parties.
On the other
hand, local government members from the ruling PTI expressed their satisfaction
over the allocation and subsequent utilisation of development funds. They also
appreciated the devolution of power to grass roots.
Seminar
participants urged the RTI commission to notify rules of business and to extend
the RTI Act to provincially administered tribal areas (PATA).
Moreover,
they demanded that the head of the department should be held responsible for
sharing information while public information officers, divisional officers
should be appointed to ensure easy access to the RTI commission, including the
Peshawar High Court in the ambit of RTI Act, proactive discloser of information
while providing additional benefits to the public information officers in their
services structure.
Regarding the
RTS Act, citizens asked the provincial government to formulate a policy for
effective and timely public service delivery along with a monitoring mechanism
for federal departments which provide services at the provincial level such as
the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and Sui Northern Gas Pipeline
Limited (SNGPL).
About the
local government act, activists urged to amend the law since the existing law
has no mechanism for bringing about a vote of no-confidence over elected
village nazims.
RTI Chief
Information Commissioner Azmat Hanif Orakzai ensured activists that the
commission would be made accessible while the RTI and RTS laws would be further
empowered.
Local
Government Department Additional Secretary Said Rehman said that there were
proper rules and regulations for local bodies and that the concerned
authorities take notice of every complaint made.
He added that
the department has so far taken action against 100 members who were fined for
violating the rules.
Rehman
further said that they were in talks with supporting organisations to train
members of the district government, especially women councillors.
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