BY ASIM SHAHZAD
LAHORE: Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan has said that 18th Amendment was intended to bring down powers.
It is the need of the hour to trained the members of the provincial assembly for the formulation of local policies and legislation.
The speaker stated the 18th Amendment is very important in the constitutional history of Pakistan. These views were expressed by the speaker while addressing the open dialogue session held in the old session hall of the Punjab Assembly regarding local government.
The open dialogue session was organised under the Parliamentary Development Unit (PDU). Secretary General Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Aamir Habib gave an initial briefing in the meeting.
Khan said today in this session, along with government and opposition members of the assembly, there are also people who have experience in local government.
Unfortunately, local government constitutions have been mistreated for decades. The disadvantage of this is that we have not been able to provide sanitation system in the villages for decades.
The speaker further said training the members of the provincial assembly for the formulation of local policies and legislation is the need of time.
The purpose of this session is to improve the capacity of local government legislators. The Open Assembly Dialogue Series directly affects communities, without which communities cannot move forward. During the speech, the speaker asked the members of the assembly that the public representatives should improve the governance at the local level for the sake of the interests of their constituencies.
In the meeting, advisor to the speaker Usama Khawar, MPAs Rana Aftab Ahmed Khan, Ashfa Riaz Fatiana, Asma Abbasi, Raheela Khadim, Farrukh Javed Moon, Ahmar Rashid Bhatti, Shaukat Bhatti, Sardar Mohsin Leghari, Salman Abid and Ahmed Bilal, along with other members of the Assembly, Chairman Standing Committee for Local Government Ashraf Rasool and Chief Guest Dr Saeed Shafqat also attended.