BADIN, Jan 2: The caretaker government is considering restoring magisterial powers of the District Coordination Officers (DCOs) to deal with the law and order situation within their respective districts, it was reliably learnt here on Wednesday.

During the recent riots, heavy losses to lives and damages to government and private properties were reported after a wave of angry protests against the assassination of Ms Benazir Bhutto.

Following the incident, the entire district machinery in Sindh and other provinces seemed to be paralysed and could not do anything against the vandals. In fact, it even looked helpless and worried about its own protection.

Mohammad Hassan, a representative of an NGO, said had the DCOs been delegated the powers of district magistrates there would have been no chances of such huge losses and the incidents. He said revenue officials could perform their judicial functions better in coordination with the local people and could easily control the situation.

Sources said a meeting regarding it would soon be convened at Karachi where without any amendment in the devolution system district magistrate powers could be restored to DCOs through promulgation of an ordinance. It would also cover the law and order situation during the elections effectively.

NORMALCY RETURNS: The law and order situation in Badin remained peaceful and normalcy returned with the opening of shops and business centres on Wednesday.