PESHAWAR: ADDs' posts not likely to be restored - Tussle between provincial, local governments
By Zulfiqar Ali
PESHWAR, Jan 4: The local government and rural development department's bid to restore abolished posts of assistant director of development in all districts of the province, is not likely to materialize
because of objections raised by the finance department, NWFP.
According to official sources, the NWFP Finance Department has opposed the restoration of the posts in all 24 districts of the province, citing financial constraints as reason.
The sources said that the Local Government and Rural Development department had forwarded a summary to the Chief Minister's Secretariat, seeking revival of the ADD offices at the provincial and the district level.
An official told Dawn on Tuesday that the Local Government Department had requested the provincial government several times to restore ADD offices at district level, but the finance department had blocked the summary, citing monitory constraints.
The ADD offices were meant to look after the distribution of special funds released by the federal government for various development programmes in the four provinces.
These offices were set up to help parliamentarians and members of the provincial assembly in allocation, distribution and utilisation of special funds for various development projects in their respective areas.
These sources said that after the introducing of the Local Government Ordinance, 2001, the MMA government abolished all offices of the ADD across the province. However, in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, the ADD offices have been functioning normally.
In the absence of the ADD, District Coordination Officers had taken over their offices in the province. The sources further said that the finance department had agreed only to finance the ADD office at the provincial level, but not at the district level.
