LAHORE: The Punjab government has directed the district coordination officers (DCOs) to finalise plans to implement transition to the new local government system from next week.

As the offices for the local government functionaries have been spruced up, Chief Secretary Zahid Saeed has asked the DCOs to immediately finalise the human resource deployment plan in respective districts besides monitoring the distribution of assets and opening of new bank accounts to streamline financial matters.

The chief secretary was chairing a marathon DCOs’ conference at the Civil Secretariat on Wednesday, wherein administrative secretaries gave briefing on their respective departments. The meeting discussed matters pertaining to local governments, revenue, planning and development, health, education and Overseas Pakistanis Commission, Punjab.

The chief secretary asked the DCOs to continue crackdown on fake drugs besides ensuring availability of diagnostic equipment and medicines in all district and tehsil headquarters hospitals. He said the doctors were being paid ‘lucrative’ salaries to serve in remote districts and areas.

He also asked the DCOs to keep on paying surprise visits to hospitals and ensure that patients should be taken care of properly. The chief secretary also asked them to ensure quality construction of additional classrooms in public schools. The Punjab government is funding construction of 25,000 additional classrooms during the current and next financial years, while the DFID will fund construction of 11,000 more classrooms.

The Punjab home secretary gave a briefing on law and order in the province and stressed that the DCOs should take effective security measures during Eid-i-Milad and Christmas celebrations.

While discussing the Land Record Management Information System, Kissan Package and complaints by Overseas Pakistanis, the chief secretary asked the district heads to improve their performance.

He acknowledged the performance of the DCOs of Lahore, Gujrat, Chiniot, Okara, Lodhran and Bahawalnagar.

Published in Dawn December 8th, 2016