KARACHI, Nov 7: Sindh Minister for Local Bodies, Labour and Transport, Dewan Mohammad Yousuf Farooqi, on Wednesday, presided over a meeting of Nazims and District Coordination Officers belonging to the interior of Sindh, to sort out problems faced by them while functioning district governments.

The provincial minister for Finance, Planning and Development, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and the education minister, Prof Anita Ghulam Ali, also briefed the meeting, while senior officials of the health department replied to queries put up by District Nazims and DCOs.

Dewan Yousuf Farooqi, while reviewing the working of district governments, informed the meeting that steps are being taken to rectify flaws in the new system with the passage of time.

He urged District Nazims to rise above petty issues and start planning for the long-term uplift and economic development of their respective areas, suggesting that they prepare a master plan in this regard. Apart from corruption, the major reason behind the failure of a number of past projects was ill-planning and improper allocation of resources, he asserted.

Citing examples, the minister said that though Pakistan is the third-largest producer of milk in the world, we are not even processing 80 per cent of it, while other agricultural produce such as dates and rice of Sindh can be exported if properly harnessed.

However, the basic need is to plan and each district must know where and what type of project is required, Mr Farooqi asserted.

He promised District Nazims that he would arrange a meeting between them and the traders and industrialists association in the near future.

The meetings would help gear up commercial activities in districts and eventually improve the economic conditions of the locals which would ultimately place the District Government in better financial condition, he hoped.

He asked the Nazims and DCOs to present their requirements and demands, which would be reviewed and presented to the Sindh Governor, Mohammedmian Soomro and the National Reconstruction Bureau.

He said that the President of Pakistan, Gen Pervez Musharraf, has given authority to District Nazims that their coordination is required in every development scheme launched in their respective districts.

He suggested district representatives identify and get the # development schemes approved by their respective District Councils according to priority, so that they can be inducted in development programmes launched by the provincial government and in the next phase of the Khushal Pakistan Programme.

Most of complaints presented by District Nazims and DCOs related to financial and budget matters. They also pointed out lack of financial experts in the districts to prepare budgets.

Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh acknowledged the problems faced by the districts and promised to send financial experts to each and every district, who would coordinate with them in preparing the budget which is to be presented by Nov 15.

He said that there are a number of incomplete schemes lying unattended in each districts and it is the duty of Nazims to acquire information about them and get them restarted.

The education minister, Anita Ghulam Ali, informed that the federal government has given a grant of more than Rs150 million, in addition to the current budget for different heads including promotion of literacy, improvement of science and technical facilities in the educational institutes of the province.

She called upon Nazims to prepare PC-1 for educational schemes in their respective districts and urged them to take an initiative in improving the standard of educational institutes.

The health department was represented by Secretary Health, Khalid Latif Chaudhry, who informed about different ongoing health-related projects in Sindh.

In reply to a question about the number of buildings and projects of the health department lying incomplete or unattended all over the province, he said that most are due to wrongful planning of successive governments. He urged Nazims to plan their projects according to the requirement of the respective area.

Secretary, Local Government, Qamar Zaman, presented the concluding remarks.—PPI