CHITRAL: The government is adopting delaying tactics in posting the district health officer to Chitral despite the fact that the post has been lying vacant for last 15 days after the retirement of incumbent Dr Iftikhar.

A source requesting anonymity told Dawn that the health department had never been left without its district head even for a single day as an officer was given charge to look after the affairs in case of retirement or transfer of the DHO till the next posting.

He said presently there was no authorised officer in Chitral to discharge the duties of the most sensitive office of DHO.

He said locally Dr Haiderul Mulk was the only option for the post as he belonged to the management cadre in grade-19, but the district secretary of the ruling PTI, Israruddin, was said to be opposing him on personal grounds.

WOMEN TO GET CHICKENS: The Biyar Local Support Organisation will provide chickens to women of Booni union council to help them become sound economically.

In this regard, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the livestock department to impart training to the selected women for multiplication of special breed of hen to help augment their sources of income.

The organisation’s chairman Syed Sardar Hussain Shah said the entity had earlier distributed livestock among the women in the area with the financial assistance of Aga Khan Rural Support Programme.

He said women of the area had been playing their customary role in the household economy, and thus a number of initiatives had been initiated by his organisation to support them economically.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2019