26 January 2004	Monday	03 Zilhaj 1424

KARACHI, Jan 25: The adviser to chief minister on local government, Waseem Akhter, has said that there was no need to hold open kutcheries if Nazims and councillors had worked to solve problems of the masses.

Speaking to an open kutchery in Baldia Town here on Sunday, he said that such meetings were held in an effort to let the officers know about the genuine problems of general public.

The adviser said that the province would be on the way to progress very soon if the masses backed the democratic government. Wasim Akhter said that the representatives of present government were contacting the masses in all cities of Sindh to solve their problems at their door step.

Town Nazim Aurangzeb Khan told the adviser that Baldia Town had no source of income unlike other towns, which had been getting millions of rupees in the head of property tax.

Mr Khan demanded that a separate 48-inch-dia pipeline be laid for the town, which would cost about Rs180 million. He further said that there was no water pipeline in three of its union councils. He demanded that the pipelines be laid in all the union councils.

The Nazim said the number of doctors in Baldia Town be increased so that government dispensaries could be run. People informed the adviser about the area problems, including water shortage, sewerage problems, dilapidated roads and lack of educational and health care facilities.

Mr Akhter received around 300 applications from people on the occasion and assured them that their problems would soon be solved. He said that work on Anjum Higher Secondary School would be started very soon.

He said that there were 25 katchi abadis in the town, out of which six would be regularized soon. These include Yousuf goth, Gulshan Ghazi, Qaimkhani, Ittehad town and Sajjan goth. -PPI