PESHAWAR: The mayors and chairmen of the city and tehsil councils in 17 districts of the province on Tuesday took oath of their offices, starting the four-year tenure of the two tiers local government system.

The oaths were administered to them by the deputy commissioner of the relevant district. Similarly, the returning officers concerned administered oaths to the chairmen and other members of the village and neighbourhood councils.

Polls were held in the first phase of local bodies’ elections in 66 tehsils of 17 districts on December 19. Polls in the second phase of local bodies’ elections in the remaining 18 districts will be held on March 31.

Polls in the first phase were held in Peshawar, Buner, Bajaur, Swabi, Nowshera, Kohat, Karak, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Tank, Haripur, Khyber, Mohmand, Charsadda, Hangu and Lakki Marwat.

In Peshawar, Deputy Commissioner Shafiullah administered oath to city council mayor Zubair Ali, Peshtakhera tehsil chairman Haroon Sifat, Mathra tehsil chairman Faridullah Khan, Shah Alam tehsil chairman Kalimullah, Chamkani tehsil chairman Arbab Umar, Badhber tehsil chairman Mufti Tilla Mohammad and Hasankhel tehsil chairman Abdul Hafeez Afridi.

Deputy commissioners administer oath to the elected LB members

The oath taking ceremony was held at commissioner office that was attended by leaders of different political parties.

Talking to journalists, Zubair Ali said that residents of Peshawar had been facing multiple problems, especially haphazard traffic, unplanned construction, hours-long power outages, unavailability of clean drinking water, rapid increase in population and less resources.

“We will work together with other stakeholders to overcome the prevailing issues on priority basis,” he said. He added that threat of outbreak of dengue fever was looming large in the provincial capital and steps were needed to prevent it.

In Charsadda, a total of 868 public representatives including tehsil mayors and chairmen, who got elected in the first phase of local government elections, took oath of their offices.

In Mardan, separate oath taking ceremonies for mayors and chairman were held in five tehsils of Mardan. The district returning officer, Habibullah Arif, administered oath to Mardan tehsil mayor Himayatullah Mayar.

In Bajaur, about 800 newly-elected public representatives took oath of their offices.

In Haripur, 1,088 local government representatives including three tehsil chairmen took oath of their offices at separate ceremonies.

In Kohat, The deputy commissioner, Roshan Mehsud, administered oath to the city mayor and chairmen of tehsils of Gumbat and tribal subdivision of Darra Adamkhel at the town hall on Tuesday.

The mayor, Qari Sher Zaman, chairmen of Gumbat tehsil Sajid Iqbal and Shahid Iqbal of Darra Adamkhel took oath of their offices.

In Mohmand, the newly-elected representatives of local government took oath for the first time in the district headquarters Ghalanai on Tuesday.

Deputy Commissioner Syed Ghulam Habib first administered oath to tehsil chairmen while Assistant Commissioner Sajid Hussain Afridi administered oath to the chairmen and members of village and neighbourhood councils.

In Swabi, four tehsil municipal administrations started functioning under the newly-elected mayor and chairmen on Tuesday after the the elected representative took oath of their offices on Monday.

During a visit to the relevant offices, a great hustle and bustle was witnessed. People from different walks of life were visiting the offices to congratulate the mayors and chairmen of tehsil councils.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2022