KARACHI, April 1: Sindh Governor Mohammedmian Soomro held a meeting with district Nazims from all over the province at the Governor‘s House on Monday and discussed with them views on the proposed presidential referendum by the government.

The Nazims supported continuation of the reforms programmes, initiated by President Pervez Musharraf and stressed the need to institutionalize the process on a permanent basis. They said devolution of power at the grassroots level was an important part of the reforms and they would extend all-out support to the process. These reforms, they said, needed to be continued for revival of the economy and rooting out terrorism in the country.

The governor was confident that the Nazims would openly support the reforms process.

The meeting also reviewed law and order situation, progress of development schemes and other matters. The Nazims apprised the governor of the ongoing development schemes and problems faced by their areas.

The governor issued directives on some of the matters of urgent nature.

Mr Soomro informed the Nazims that Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan were jointly launching a massive operation against criminals. The operation would mainly focus on bordering areas of the three provinces. He urged the Nazims to play their role in eliminating criminals.

Reviewing development schemes under the Khushhal Pakistan and Drought Emergency Relief Assistance programmes, the governor stressed the need to complete the schemes in a specified period. “The government is sending planning officers to all the districts so that the work could be completed with better planning,” he observed.

He also issued directives with regard to accelerating work on Hyderabad drainage programme and K.B. feeder project in Kotri. The meeting was informed that Provincial Finance Commission was working on devising a formula for fair distribution of resources among the districts.—PPI