PESHAWAR, July 17: The NWFP government is deliberating on a proposal to abolish the posts of junior clerks in district governments, amid opposition by the local government department, officials said.

Sources in the city district government office told Dawn here on Thursday that the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) government had decided in principle to abolish the posts of junior clerks in district governments across the province.

Under the proposal, officials said, only the posts of senior clerks would be retained at the district level in the province.

An official said that Peshawar city district government would have to lay off more than 70 junior clerks, functioning in union council offices, if the provincial government did not review its proposal. The sources said that the local government department had opposed the MMA government’s decision and added that the department concerned had proposed to the government to promote junior clerks to the ranks of senior clerks instead of laying off a large number of employees. The sources said that the local government department had sent a summary to the provincial government, requesting it to reconsider its decision. A meeting had been convened on Saturday to take final decision in that regard, officials said. Officials said that the city district governments had already requested to the provincial government to sanction technical posts to cope with the increased workload in different offices.