HYDERABAD, Jan 12: District Nazim Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman has asked the Sindh government to immediately restore Rs140 million of last year's ADP and from former governor's development package so that the amount can be used before the end of current financial year.

He said this while presiding over a meeting of the district consultative council at his secretariat here on Monday. He said the Sindh government had agreed in principle to re- appropriate the amount but no notification or financial authority had been issued yet whereas the current financial year would end after five months.

He said appointment of a government officer as project director for the city development plan had been recently approved by the Sindh chief secretary. He hoped that other matters regarding the development plan would also be smoothly settled. Referring to the announcements made by the prime minister, apart from the Hyderabad development package, the district consultative council expressed satisfaction over allocation of Rs10 million for water supply to Hala taluka.

The council asked authorities concerned to waive Rs102 million liabilities against the defunct Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and announce a financial package for providing gas to Saeedabad. The council also decided that a 500 square feetflat in the Mehran Plaza of Hyderabad Development Authority would be provided to each family residing in the Pucca Qilla to get the historic fort evacuated to preserve it as a heritage site.

The City Nazim informed the meeting that the fort residents had expressed their pleasure over the scheme. Expressing concern over the slow pace of development work as pointed out by the City Nazim, Mr Rafiquzzaman reconstituted the HDA board of governors, with himself as its head, the HDA director-general as secretary and the DCO, the EDOs of revenue, finance and planning, three taluka Nazims and concerned director of the HDA as the members.

The district Nazim directed the HDA DG to submit a report on the status of the development schemes of the authority with proposals for accelerating the pace of development work.

Discussing the issues raised by the Tando Allahyar Taluka Nazim Abid Yousuf Bachani about closure of 90 schools due to lack of teaching staff, dissatisfactory performances of school management committees and non-functional mono-technical institute, the council decided to recruit essential teaching staff from the SMC fund.

The district Nazim directed the education EDO to submit a report on the status of primary, secondary and mono-technical institutions in the district so that each unit was made functional.

HYDERABAD FESTIVAL: The district Nazim announced on the occasion that a three-day Hyderabad festival would be celebrated every year by the district government with the participation of private sector.