PESHAWAR, Feb 18: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government has taken a number of steps to establish a just society by introducing basic reforms in different sectors.

This consensus emerged after a briefing given by provincial ministers to senior journalists from Karachi who were visiting the province on the invitation of the NWFP chief minister.

Finance Minister Sirajul Haq said that the government had done away with the culture of a police and a peon sitting outside offices of ministers and government functionaries and made them accessible to the people. It has helped bridge the gap between authorities and the common man.

"This trend has created a good impression among the people about the working of the government," he said. He said the NWFP was the only province which had formed an advisory committee on finance. The committee, led by Prof Senator Khursheed Ahmed, is consisted of the Pakistan People's Party, Awami National Party, both factions of the Pakistan Muslim League and other groups.

The minister said that this committee would help resolve pressing problems. The information minister said that the MMA government was embarked on introducing basic reforms which did not confront the constitution in the province. He hoped that theses reforms would bring about vital and healthy change in the attitude of the people.

Local government minister Sardar Mohammad Idrees said that the NWFP government was not against district government system. From day one both governments were discharging their duties within their parameters.

He said it was made clear to Nazims from day one that the NWFP government wanted to strengthen the district government system and therefore all controversial issues were being resolved with consultations. He said funds of two districts were frozen due to reports of irregularities.

He said when the district government system was introduced there was no political government, therefore some weaknesses were left in it which called for amendments to the local government ordinance to determine powers of district coordinating officers (DCOs) and Nazims in certain areas.

The health minister said that the MMA government had taken some drastic steps to improve health facilities for the people. He said the government had dismissed 82 ghost doctors and recruited 400 doctors and 4,000 paramedics across the province.

The minister said the government had decided to set up a health endowment fund with Rs500 million seed money to provide free-of-cost health care to the deserving people.

A health regulatory authority, he said, had been set up to check irregularities in the health sector and an alternative medicine system was also being introduced by inducting homeopatheic doctors and Hakeems, he added.

About reforms in education sector, Education Minister Fazal Ali said that the present syllabus was introduced by the British rulers to enslave the Indian people who were opposed to alien rule. The NWFP government, he said, had decided to bring about basic changes to the old syllabus and introduce a new one, reflecting national requirements and people's aspirations, he added.

An education commission, he said, set up by the government had been assigned to suggest changes to the syllabus and submit its findings in the shortest possible time.

The government had made education up to the matric compulsory, he added. The government had established a separate woman university to help women to continue their higher education in a male-free environment.