KARACHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government in Sindh has decided to amend the contentious local government law in compliance with the accord reached with the Jamaat-e-Islami a day earlier.
In this regard, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has summoned a meeting of the provincial cabinet on Feb 2.
The government has also decided to postpone the local government polls till July.
In its meeting, the cabinet will decide on agreeing with the JI part of the bill, to extend the powers of the city mayor. The cabinet will approve the appointment of the Karachi mayor as the chairperson of the Karachi water board along with reverting the control of health and education departments to the mayoral office.
The provincial government will also relinquish the control of the octroi tax and give it back to the municipal corporations. The cabinet will also decide on re-tabling the local government bill in the Sindh Assembly.
The agenda also includes Bundle and Buddu Islands, whose ownership will be handed over to the forest department. It may be noted that the forest department secretary had requested the Sindh government for an order on the islands.
