January 19, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 18, 1426

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FAISALABAD, Jan 18: The working of the Lyallpur Town Administration has almost come to a standstill due to transfers of all the four town officers within a fortnight.

Except the TMO, none of the officers was available in the town to run its day-to-day affairs.

Even the important tasks like preparation of annual budget for 2006, and finalizing of various development schemes suffered a setback for want of local council officers.

Former town officer (Finance) Mujeeb-uz-Zaman Sahmi was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Establishment for his alleged involvement in a scam and misuse of power case.

As no officer could be posted to replace him, the elected representatives had been facing many problems.

Similarly, TO (Planning and Coordination) Ali Imran was transferred and posted in the city district government. After this move, the important town functions like approval of building plans, monitoring of unauthorized construction, checking of violation of building by-laws were halted.

Meanwhile, TO (Infrastructure and Services) Rana Naseem was also transferred and posted in the CDG, and TO (Regulation) Naeemullah Warraich was posted in Lahore, leaving their respective seats vacant.

When contacted, Town Nazim Rana Zahid Mehmood confirmed that all the four TOs had been transferred without appointing new ones to run the TMA working.

Sources said Rana Zahid had launched a number of new programmes, including a vigorous campaign against encroachers and land-grabbers, taking an oath from the staff members to work honestly without accepting bribe or even commission from the contractors.

The scenario did not suit many officials who preferred to get transferred from the town, they added.