HARIPUR: The government hasn’t posted the deputy commissioner to Haripur district for over a fortnight bringing the financial affairs related to the office to a standstill.

The posts of assistant commissioners in Ghazi and Khanpur tehsils have also been vacant.

Official sources said Haripur DC Arifullah Awan went abroad on Sept 12 to attend a course without handing over the office’s charge to anyone as the provincial government didn’t issue order for the appointment of his successor.

They said being the principal accounting officer of the district administration, the DC was to sign all bills and files relating to the month-wise financial affairs of the district, including three sub-divisions and district council, whose charge was also given to the DC after the completion of four years tenure of the district council on Aug 28.

Posts of ACs in Ghazi, Khanpur tehsils also vacant

The sources said the delay in the DC’s appointment had stalled all such work.

They blamed the delay on the local political leadership’s interest in the posting of a junior officer working at the Prime Minister’s Office.

The sources said there was a tug of war between the provincial government and that officer.

BYPASS PROJECT: Work on the second phase of Haripur bypass project will be completed in two months, communication and works minister Akbar Ayub Khan told reporters here on Monday.

The minister said the project’s second phase covering the area from Zero Point on Khanpur Road to Chappar Road would facilitate commuters, especially tourists.

He said the project would ease traffic mess on city roads, especially GT Road, encourage tourism in Galiyat and upper Hazara, and create hundreds of tourism-related jobs for youths of the entire Hazara division.

Meanwhile, a young man committed suicide in a remote village of Allooli village council on Monday morning.

The doctors said the body’s condition showed that Tanveer, 18, had consumed some poisonous substance.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2019