KARACHI, March 16: Governor Mohammedmian Soomro has asked the Nazims and elected representatives to play their role in maintaining law and order in their respective districts during Moharram.

He directed the Nazims to ensure their presence in their respective districts and inform high-ups if they leave their district.

“Nazims are parts of the government and have to ensure implementation of laws and rules under the SLGO, the governor said and asked them to ensure team-work while working with Naib Nazims, Taluka Nazims and other elected representatives.

The governor issued these directives while presiding over a meeting at the New Sindh Secretariat which was attended by all district nazims, secretaries of provincial departments and DCOs in Sindh.

The meeting also reviewed the progress of development programmes launched under the Khushhal Pakistan Programme, the annual development programme and the food support programme etc.

With reference to water problem, the governor said: “No project would be planned against the 1991 Water Accord. In the presence of the accord and installation of telemetric system, there would be no injustice in the distribution of apportioned water to the provinces.”

The governor warned against dereliction of duty in implementing development schemes and said despite scarcity of resources, the government had apportioned a huge amount to implement welfare projects under the Khushhal and annual development programme.

He said people had anxiously been waiting for the completion of potable water supply, education and health like schemes and as such laxity on the part of officials would be a criminal act and no excuse would be acceptable.

He said those found involved in corruption and plundering of resources would not only be transferred but taken to task.

Chief Secretary Muhammad Javed Ashraf Hussain informed the governor that districts had been asked to submit fort-nightly reports on progress of projects.

The governor pointed out that in future development funds would be released to districts and the departments on the basis of their performance.

The meeting was informed that for the third phase of Khushhal Pakistan Programme, tenders had been invited and soon physical work would start soon.

Progress on the newly-launched third phase of Khushhal Pakistan Programme, sized at Rs2.8 billion, was reviewed for each district. About 1,200 schemes have, so far, been approved for KPP-III, it was informed.

So far, 500 schemes, costing Rs2349.6 million, have been tendered and physical work on some of these schemes had already started.

To ensure a better monitoring mechanism at the district level, the secretary of local government was directed to constitute inspection teams to visit all the districts and review the progress on ground.

The chief secretary called for completion of all the schemes included in KPP-III by June 20. The third phase of Khushal Pakistan Programme includes schemes from roads, village electrification and water supply and sanitation sectors.

In addition to generating an over-all economic activity in the province, the third phase of the programme is expected to generate about 40,000 new job opportunities.

The second phase of Khushal Pakistan Programme, costing Rs1.8 million, has already been completed.

Annual Development Programme 2001-2002 worth Rs. 5.7 billion was also reviewed for each department. The finance department has, so far, released Rs2342.396 million out of which Rs1326.396 million have been utilized.

Out of the total release, Rs410.013 million and Rs1932.383 million have been released for the provincial and the district schemes, respectively. So far, Rs265.8 million and Rs1060.56 million have been utilized on the provincial and district schemes, respectively.

On complete utilization of the allocated amount of ADP 2001-2002 about 994 schemes shall be completed in the province.

The break-up of the schemes in different departments/sectors would be: 38 for agriculture livestock and fisheries department, eight for forest and wildlife department, five for industries and mineral development department, 21 in irrigation and power department, 85 for physical planning and housing department, 99 for transport and communication department, 228 for rural development department, 333 for education department, 139 for health department, 11 for culture, sports and tourism department, six6 for manpower and employment department, three for social welfare department, 10 for statistics and economic research, two for women’s development department, three for science and technology department, one for environment department and two for miscellaneous purposes.

The meeting noted that the total utilization of ADP funds was about 57 per cent. It was observed that on about 340 schemes, the amount so far utilized was less than 20 per cent.

The chief secretary urged the secretaries to hold weekly review meetings and try to step-up the pace of implementation.

The chief secretary cautioned the responsible functionaries of strict accountability in case the funds are not utilized properly and to the full.

The progress of the third instalment of Food Support Programme- estimating to Rs26.8 million was also discussed.

The 3rd instalment would benefit about 268,000 poverty-stricken households. So far 45 per cent of the beneficiaries have been reached, with total disbursement of Rs118.195 million.

Two instalments of Food Support Programme — a scheme to help the poor populace of the province — have already been disbursed.

The third and the current instalment of the programme will be disbursed by the end of April, it was decided.