CHITRAL: A cluster organisation of the nazims of all 100 village councils of Chitral has demanded action against the Pakistan Baitul Mal officials over anomalies in distribution of relief packets in the district.

A Qatari charity organisation had supplied the packets.

In a statement issued here, All Village Nazims Forum Chitral president Sajjad Ahmad Khan said the Qatari organisation had sent in both food and non-food items for distribution to poor flood-affected residents of Chitral through the PBM, but they were distributed on a political basis.

He alleged that the packet distribution should be carried out in consultation with village nazims who were the representatives of the people at grassroots level,but the local PBM head ignored them.

Mr Sajjad said the nazims learned about the irregularity only after the packets were distributed to undeserving people. He said the disaster management department coordinated relief operations carried out by different organisation, but it was also ignored in the exercise.

TB AWARENESS: An awareness seminar was held here on Thursday under the aegis of Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre (MALC) in connection with the World TB Day in which representatives of civil society participated.

Giving presentation, district TB control officer Dr Farrah Javed said that the disease was spreading at an alarming rate in Chitral due to lack of awareness while the people hesitated even to undergo diagnosis due to stigma attached to it.

She said that due to poverty, the people from the far-flung areas of the district did not afford to travel to the DHQ hospital for diagnosis and treatment to avail of free treatment.

The health officer of MALC, Mustafa Kamal, said that his organisation was providing free diagnosis and treatment facilities to the patients attending the private clinics and for this purpose it has imparted training to 19 doctors posted in Chitral city, Drosh and Booni.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2019