PESHAWAR, May 22: Lakki Marwat District Nazim Humayun Saifullah Khan has demanded of the government to provide the local bodies system a constitutional protection so that it could not be reversed by the future governments.

Speaking at the Peshawar Press Club’s Nazmeen Forum programme here on Tuesday, Mr Khan observed that local bodies institutions should also be invested with financial powers. The local bodies institutions called ‘panchayet system’ had been the very basis of socio-economic development in rural India, he added.

He said the new local bodies system would bring in a social change in Pakistan. It was a new system and would take time to transform into a local government, he added.

Mr Khan said people held some reservations about this system. They thought it had no constitutional protection and any of the future government could do away with the entire system. “Now, we are constrained to depend on government for development funds. If the government delegates us financial power, we will do more work,” he added.

This year, he said, he had spent Rs2,760 million on 88 schemes to improve the irrigation system based on Rood Kohi system in his district. The government had granted them special permission to spend the entire district’s budget on the main project, he added.

He said the Kurram-Tangi dam would herald a green revolution in Lakki Marwat and the surrounding districts. It would irrigate 350,000 acres of barren land, he added.

It would also generate 58 MW electricity, which would improve the present power consumption position in the area, he added.

Next year, he said, we would allocate maximum funds for the public health sector. “We are planning to provide good quality furniture, drinking water and other facilities at primary schools to build a strong foundation,” he added.

He said he had asked the private sector to invest in the education sector, especially for the introduction of computer training at higher school level throughout the district.

He said Lakki Marwat was like a semi-desert place. “We have a big area, but only 500,000 scattered population. Lakki is drought-hit area and the government has provided us Rs40 million relief amount,” he added.

Mr Khan said the low-voltage power was another big problem faced by people of his area. They had over-loaded grid stations and they could not set up industries owing to the low voltage, he added.

To a question, Mr Khan said he would support the construction of Kalabagh Dam, if the government promised us our share of water.