KARACHI, Oct 18: Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim on Tuesday said that unlike past practices the districts nazims would not be left unchecked and they should cooperate with the provincial government.

Addressing an introductory meeting of nazims of all districts of Sindh sans Ghotki, where the local government polls are yet to be held, the chief minister welcomed the new nazims and congratulated them on resuming their offices.

He said that a close coordination and cooperation between the nazims of district governments and provincial government was necessary. He said that provincial government would continue to cooperate with the district governments besides providing guidance to them.

Arbab Rahim said that short and long-termed strategies would be formulated so that maximum number of people could be benefited. He said that under the Sindh Local Government Ordinance the functions of the then deputy commissioners were given to district nazims.

He said that the nazims should discharge their duties along with bureaucracy, house and members according to the rules. He asked them to keep corruption at the minimum and eliminate it totally. He said that if the nazims had complaints of corruption from any official of the government they should inform the government so that proper action could be initiated against him after probe.

He said that the district government and provincial government were interrelated. “If we failed to cooperate with each other, the development of district would suffer,” he added.

In the past, he said, there was no contact between the district governments and the chief minister. “But now we would fully cooperate and if these contacts go improved they would cast positive effects on the uplift works,” he added.

He said that the government would conduct comprehensive planning of all towns of the province. Besides, a policy regarding usage of funds at union council level was also under consideration.

The chief minister asked nazims to study in detail the recent amendments made to Sindh Local Government Ordinance. He announced that the Sindh government would soon convene a workshop on the Sindh Local Government Ordinance.

He said that though functions of district, taluka and union council government seemed different, overall they all had the same functions to perform and their close contact was vital.

He said that the government was reviewing to set up new offices in newly formed districts, and uplift schemes for these districts would be formulated on priority basis. He said that the funds from Hyderabad development package were being released to the new districts. —PPI