Local Government Barkhan
The general mandate of the local government is to assist the local people through needs assessment, and planning and implementation of development projects to improve their socio-economic well-being. The local government institutions are union councils, town committees, district councils etc. At the district level there is one Assistant Director Local Government who supervises and supports these institutions. The Assistant Director is headed by the Deputy Director and the Director at Divisional level and the Director General at the Provincial level. The Secretary Local Government and Rural Development is the person overall in charge of the local government institutions. Previously, the Assistant Director Local Government was also working as Secretary of the District Council, but for the last two years this position is fulfilled by the Chief Officer.
The local government institutions were established to ensure decision making and implementation at the grassroots level and to facilitate bottom-up planning. Due to various reasons this has not been successful. Decisions are still made top-down. Most institutions lack funds, as they face constraints mobilising resources.
See annex 4 for a survey of the functions of local government institutions. Statements of receipts and expenditures of local government institutions in the district are given in annex 13.
Union Council
The union council is the lowest tier of the local government system. In Barkhan district there are seven union councils. All the members of the union councils are elected by the people. All the union councils in Barkhan district have no source of income of their own, and wholly depend on the grants given by government. The grants provided by government amount to a nominal some which is even not sufficient for the salaries of the lower staff.
Town Committee
There is one town committee in the district for the town of Barkhan. The major sources of income are octroi and land rent income generated from octroi and land rent utilised for the salaries of the staff. Due to lack of funds, no development activity is carried out by the town committee for the people in the district. The total income received by the town committee was Rs.491,000 during 1991-92, which decreased to Rs.403,778 in 1995-96 and further decreased to Rs.266,000 during 1996-97, due to the low recovery rate of octroi.
Municipal Committee
No Municipal Committee exist in Barkhan district.
District Council
The district council is the authority which controls all the union councils in the district. The authorisation and approval of the budgets of all the union councils, and the imposition of taxes is the duty of the district council. Since the imposition of zila tax, no aid is provided to the district council by the government. It pays salaries to its regular and non-regular staff out of its own income from zila tax. Some minor schemes are annually executed by the district council. In 1996, the amount of Rs.1,200,000 was provided from the President Special Fund. With this money a bus stand, children’s park, 32 street light poles and 6 dustbins were constructed in Barkhan town. Out of the same fund an amount of Rs.730,000 was utilised in Rakhni town of Barkhan district, for the construction of a bus stop, 32 street light poles and dust bins.