MARDAN, July 7: Differences among various tiers of the local government are preventing the new system from solving people’s problems.

A meeting of union council nazims, naib nazims and councillors was arranged at Sattar Kaley in Takhbai at the residence of a local politician and former managing director of the Sarhad Tourism Corporation, Abdul Ghaffar Mohmand.

The purpose of the gathering was to ascertain the problems faced by the people of Takhbai area and steps taken by their representatives in union councils to solve them.

Speeches made by local nazims and others showed that the biggest problem at the grass-roots level was the non-functioning local council system.

“Not a single development work is taking place. We couldn’t pass our budget because of differences between two groups in the tehsil council,” said naib nazim Abdul Khaliq. “We neither have funds nor powers. How can we serve our people?”

The representatives in the local government were seemingly under pressure from their electorate to deliver. “We have not been able to solve any of our local problems. The system should be scrapped or we should be empowered,” said another councillor.

Shamshad, a naib nazim in the local union council, said that the union councils were not getting sufficient funds.

Union Council Takar councillor Ismail said that because of their political affiliations they were not getting help from their nazim. “We don’t have any say.”

Takhbai tehsil in Mardan district is famous for ancient Buddhist relics.

Differences in the local governments are not only confined to rural areas, one admits but their effects on rural people are worse.

A JI MPA represents the area in the NWFP Assembly while a JUI MNA sits in the National Assembly. Despite being in the government in the province, the neglect of the area is hard to explain.

Speaking on the occasion, Abdul Ghaffar Mohmand said the deliberations in the gathering had served the purpose for which the meeting had been called.

He said power tussle between different tiers of the local government system were preventing it from serving the masses.

He said the people should realise and identify the people who could better serve them. The former MD of the STC said the fault did not lay with the system but the kind of people that run it. “So it’s your responsibility that you chose the right people and the right issues,” he said.

Hailing from a political family of Takhbai, Ghaffar Mohmand had contested the last general elections as an independent candidate and secured over 9,000 votes. This time, it seems, he is planning to improve his vote count with proper home work. His brother Iftikhar Mohmand had remained a political heavyweight as well.

A brief questionnaire was also distributed among the participants of the meeting to ascertain which issues needed utmost attention. The meeting is expected to help organisers establish the trends in local politics with the general elections ahead.