January 13, 2002	Sunday	Shawwal 28, 1422

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ABBOTTABAD, Jan 12: The NWFP governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah has said with the introduction of the new local government setup, we have changed the political culture which has given birth to the real democracy and power lies in the hands of public.

Speaking to the members of district council, Abbottabad here on Saturday, he said we had given relief to the public from the old colonial system where rulers were using public and bureaucracy to strengthen their power. In the present system, all had been put in the hands of public and with the devolution of power they had been left for their own choice to change their destiny.

With the decentereliazation of powers at provincial level to district level, we had reduced the gap and had removed the unwanted barriers which were the main hurdles for the development of areas, he added.

He said previously head of departments at district level were not answerable to the elected members, while district councils and committees were without powers. "Now we have made drastic changes and now this system with the new modalities are in full swing," he pointed out.

Syed Iftikhar Hussain said the real success of the new setup lied in the hands of elected representatives as they had a chance to change the socio-economic culture of the society which had been deprived of the basic rights for the last 50 years.

He said though our resources are not enough as compared to our needs but if we succeed to utilize our all resources without any pilferage, we can solve our long-awaited problems within shortest time. He pointed out that we are trying to minimize the use of traditional methods for the implementation of development schemes where over-head cost was higher as compared to actual demands. He said we had reduced number of steps to cut the recurring cost.

The governor said now health and education departments had been put directly under the control of the district governments. For appointments, transfers and postings, the district governments had been given powers.

Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah said special directives had been issued to the local government for setting up their priorities while finalizing their schemes and development projects and asked the elected representatives to allocate funds for the main projects at union council and tehsil levels, while at district level, provincial government would provide funds for the district projects for which, he pointed out that Rs 36 million had been allocated for districts.

DISTRICT BAR: Speaking to district bar members, he said judiciary played key role in the development of a society and for the smooth running of state affairs.

The governor said Pakistan, which was passing through its hardest time, had gained worldwide popularity due to its positive role and being the coalition partner is working to curb the terrorism.

Referring towards the steps taken by the government, he said that new era of development had begun in the country and said that in coming days Pakistan would be one of the largest beneficiaries from the re-building of Afghanistan for which he asked the business community of the NWFP to participate.

He said after the repatriation of Afghan refugees, the NWFP would find another track of development as gateway to Central Asian States would opened for trade and hoped that the NWFP would witness economic boom.