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PESHAWAR, Feb 7: The Frontier government will recommend necessary amendments to the Local Government Ordinance, including giving magisterial powers to tehsil municipal officers, said provincial minister for local government Sardar Mohammad Idrees on Saturday.
According to a handout, the minister told newsmen here that an inter-provincial meeting of local government ministers would be convened soon to recommend necessary amendments to the Local Government Ordinance.
The minister said the local government system had certain loopholes and there was no mechanism for accountability, due to which it was not working efficiently.
Sardar Idrees said town municipal officers would be given limited magisterial powers to handle violators of the civic order.
He said that doing away with the old system was not enough. The need of the hour, he said, was to give an efficient system that could efficiently solve problems of the people.
About the forthcoming by-elections of local bodies in the country, Mr Idrees said certain mountainous areas of the NWFP were snow bound these days, due to which elections were not likely to be held there easily.
He opined that provincial governments should have had the powers which were now being exercised by the central government.
Sardar Idrees said things had been centralised instead of devolving them to the grass root level.
DURRANI: Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani reaffirmed on Saturday his government's stance that the process of development and reconstruction in the province would continue without hindrance.
He was talking to a delegation of Town-II, Bannu, which was led by Nazim Haji Farzand Ali. The delegation apprised the chief minister about the problems being faced by the area people.
Most of the problems related to pavement of streets, construction of roads, supply of irrigation and drinking water, schools and healthcare facilities.
Mr Durrani assured the delegation that the process of development would be expedited and it would be ensured that the masses were provided improved services at their doorsteps.
The chief minister said collective decision-making ensured durable development, adding that judicious and transparent use of development funds would ensure visible change in the society. Funds shortage would not be a hurdle in the construction of fruit and vegetable market in Bannu, he added.
Referring to the extension of Bannu airport, he said work on the project would be initiated with the help of expatriate Pakistanis. Expansion of the airport would benefit the people and the trade community of the area, he added.
Meanwhile, talking to a delegation from Hangu, the chief minister said the government was committed to removing the backwardness of southern districts of the NWFP. He said that a number of development schemes had been initiated in Hangu district. He assured the delegation that all their problems would be resolved on a priority basis.
