Daily Times

Caretaker Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Muhammad Azam Khan has directed the concerned authorities to take concrete steps for immediate resolution of the problems being faced by the tehsil governments in merged districts and said that all the required staff including Tehsil Municipal Officers (TMOs) will be posted in merged districts. He issued these directives while talking to a13-member delegation of Tehsil Chairmen from the newly merged districts here on Friday.

Talking to the delegation, the chief minister said that resolution of public issues of tribal people is one of the top most priorities of care taker government adding that every Thursday has been reserved for tribal people to directly listen to their problems and take steps for their immediate resolution. Besides, provincial caretaker ministers Hamid Shah and Manzoor Afridi, Secretary Local government Aamir Afaq were also present in the meeting.

The delegation informed the chief minister about the issues including unavailability of offices and other basic facilities for tehsil chairmen, shortage of Tehsil Municipal Officers (TMOs) and other staff in merged districts. The delegates said that due to lack of staff in tehsil municipal administrations, the office work of local governments is suffering, adding that local government staff are also facing the issue of non-payment of salaries.

The tehsil chairmen requested the Chief Minister for provision of operational grants to TMAs of merged districts to make them sustainable as they are financially weak. He also directed the quarters concerned to make arrangements for the offices of local government representatives in merged districts.

Muhammad Azam Khan said that the caretaker government is going all out to get the due rights of the province, particularly newly merged districts. ‘the province is going through financial crunches as the situation gets better, merged districts will be funded on priority to address their long-standing deprivations,” he concluded.