HYDERABAD, Jan 14: The central chairman, All Pakistan Technical Draughtsmen Federation, Syed Matloob Ahmed Chishti, in a letter addressed to the president, has opposed the merger of the Sindh public heath engineering (PHE) department, into the local government department.

He said that the PHE department was initially a part of PWD and given an independent status in 1973.

He said that the department had provided water supply and drainage facilities in different towns and villages by completing 1,285 water supply schemes and 914 drainage schemes.

The chairman said that if the merger was considered necessary from administrative point of view, the department should be merged into works and services department, which had been newly created in place of the PWD.

He said that if this was not done, the social action programme initiated by the IMF would be jeopardized and added that the development projects under Asian Development Programme in Sindh could also be disturbed.

Talking to Dawn here on Sunday, Mr Chishti said that he had met the provincial minister, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, and suggested to him that on the pattern of Balochistan, the autonomy of the PHE department should be restored.

The district Nazims of Thatta and Sukkur had also sent letters to the Sindh governor recommending the appointment of the executive engineer of the PHE department at the district level to prepare and implement water supply and drainage schemes under the Khushhal Pakistan programme, it was learnt.

power shutdown: The Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) announced here on Monday the power closure programme in different localities for repair and maintenance work.

According to schedule, the shutdown will be carried out from 9am to 4pm to in following localities: Cattle Colony, Sahib Dino Goth, Gopang Goth Road, Water Supply Phuleli, Ansari Mohalla Paretabad, Gujrati Para, Tando Yousuf Road, Millatabad, Odean Cinema, Goods Naka, Station Road and Guru Nagar.—APP