HYDERABAD, Nov 1: Members of the district council on Monday expressed concern over lack of health and education facilities in the district.

They accused district government officials of being negligent to the affairs of the council. They said lack of interest on part of the members had also resulted in their failure to enforce their decisions. Therefore, they added, the members should also hold self accountability.

Convener Nawab Rashid Ali Khan took up a resolution of Dr Ayaz Arain which was discussed threadbare.

Dr Arain criticized the lack of proper health and education facilities in the district.

He said the EDO, health, or EDOs of other departments had submitted no reports for three years. He added that under sections 27 and 28 of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 2001, DCOs had to coordinate with different departments and maintain supervision over them.

He said when he raised voice against services and works officials, development works in his union council were stopped to victimize him. He observed that the bureaucracy considered the district council subservient to it and that was why the members were being humiliated.

Quoting a report of the health department, he said 77 dispensaries were working without doctors and no one knows anything about 15 sanctioned ambulances.

Lashing out at the EDO, health, for ignoring the district council, Dr Arain said the situation regarding health facilities was pathetic.

He referred to spread of hepatitis, polio, tuberculosis, typhoid and other diseases with a reference to non-availability of medicines and malpractice of drug inspectors.

About education, he spoke of non-availability of furniture, decrepit condition of school/college buildings, mushroom growth of private schools and their standard of education and increasing fees.

He said Rs2.20 billion had been spent on the district education department but only a four-page report for three years had been presented before the council.

The member said class-based education system had been introduced in the society, saying a child of the upper class could get better education but the one from the lower class could not.

He regretted that poor graduates were applying for jobs of sanitary work.

He called for detailed reports from the two departments.

The convener said EDOs of health and education departments should be directed to provide copies of their reports to each member which would be discussed at the council's next session.

He observed that members had also failed to realise their responsibilities.

Rana Mehmood Ali Khan also held monitoring committees responsible for their failure to enforce their writ by maintaining check and balance over the departments. He said only labour and IT committees had presented comprehensive reports.

He said Rs6.3 million each had been given to union councils but the quality of works had remained substandard.

Saira Naseer regretted that the members of the council had failed to forge unity among themselves and they had stood divided, providing an opportunity to officials to exploit their weakness. She complained that male colleagues did not support woman members in their just demands.

Two resolutions of Rana Mehmood Ali Khan were also adopted by the council, one calling for a ban on exhibition of video films in coaches as it was promoting obscenity and the other demanding payment of five per cent profit to companies' employees.

He said according to the Companies Profit Act 1968, every company had to pay five per cent monetary benefit to employees drawing salary up to Rs5,000. He said employees getting salary of more than Rs5,000 were not entitled to this benefit.

He called for doing away with the condition of Rs5,000 salary and payment of the five per cent profit to each employee.

Mir Abdul Karim Talpur criticized a statement of the local bodies adviser calling for appointment of DCOs as administrators of district governments and closing financial transactions of local governments by June 2005.