PESHAWAR, Aug 31: The NWFP government has proposed to Islamabad to hold direct elections for the office of district nazims in the next local bodies elections. Speaking to newsmen here at the Peshawar Press Club’s Guest’s Hour programme on Thursday, provincial minister for local government and rural development Sardar Mohammad Idress said all the four provinces had agreed on direct election of the district nazims. He said this method would provide an opportunity to honest people to come forward and serve the nation. He hoped that Islamabad would honour the aspirations of provinces and make an amendment into the Local Government Ordinance, 2001, for this purpose.

The provincial government had delegated all administrative and financial powers, enshrined into the Ordinance, to the districts, he said and added that district governments had been empowered to pay salaries to their employees. He said provincial government had advised all the district nazims to ensure equal distribution of funds to the union council nazims irrespective of that who had opposed them on the occasion of their elections. He said some of the nazims, who were suspended, had violated the law and incited the people to organise demonstration against the government.

To a question he said the government had initiated a number of steps to supply more drinking water to the residents of Peshawar. He said the government was seriously working on it at provincial level as it could not be considered as local problem. He said the people in every district were facing with scarcity of water.