Murad orders LG dept to hand over powers to local councils

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed the local government department to end the transition period of the local councils so that the elected LG representatives can serve the people of their respective areas.

Shah also directed the public health engineering department (PHED) to prepare a project under which non-functional RO plants can be made operational in the best interest of the locals.

He issued these directives on Monday during a meeting he chaired with officials of different provincial government departments after holding meetings with Pakistan Peoples Party workers at the divisional headquarters.

The CM said that during his meeting with the elected LG representatives at the divisional headquarters, he was told that the transition period of the LG agencies was still under way in their areas.

LG Secretary Khalid Hyder Shah said that some local bodies had not completed their transition work. The CM directed him to complete the transition at once and hand over powers to the elected LG representatives so that they can serve their people.

He said he had also received numerous complaints during the meeting about the non-functional RO plants installed at various villages.

Public Health Engineering Secretary Sohail Qureshi said that in March he had repaired and made 140 RO plants operational in various districts, including 26 in Badin’s villages, seven in Sujawal, 10 in Matiari, three in Jamshoro, Dadu, eight in Karachi, nine in Mirpurkhas, and 10 each in Tharparkar’s and Tando Allahyar’s villages.

He said repairs at the 140 RO plants were made from the maintenance & repair (M&R) budget. The CM said he had also received complaints from Mirpurkhas Division, particularly Tharparkar’s and Umerkot’s villages, where many RO plants were out of order. He directed Qureshi to get them running within two months.

Qureshi said that the list of around 100 RO plants sent to him by the CM’s Secretariat includes the RO plants of various villages of Sukkur, Mirpur Mathelo (Ghotki), Khairpur, Naushahro Feroze and Shaheed Benazirabad.

He said repairs at the RO plants, as directed by the chief executive, would be carried out by his department within two months from the existing M&R budget. The CM directed the PHED to repair and make operational 200 RO plants in various villages of Tharparkar and Umerkot districts from the current financial year’s M&R budget and send him the compliance report. He said that there was a complaint that the PHED had handed over its pumping stations and their staff to the municipal towns but the funds for their salaries and payment of electricity bills had not been given to them; therefore, the employees were working without salary.

LG Secretary Shah assured the CM that he and the public health engineering secretary would sit together to resolve the issue of the salaries of the staff.

The CM directed the PHED to prepare a comprehensive project so that all the RO plants not functioning due to technical issues or for want of electricity may be prepared for the next budget so that they can be made functional by repairing and energising them through solar power.

He directed the energy department to talk to the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company and the Sukkur Electric Power Company authorities not to resort to prolonged load-shedding during the sweltering weather.

“The rural areas of the province are in the grip of hot weather; therefore, power distribution companies should take care of the people by not resorting to load-shedding during mid-day.” The meeting was also attended by Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah, Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, Principal Secretary to CM Agha Wasif, Planning & Development Board Chairman Najam Shah, Energy Secretary Musadiq Khan, Senior Member Board of Revenue Baqaullah Unar, Livestock Secretary Kazim Jatoi, IT Secretary Asif Ikram, Excise & Taxation Secretary Saleem Rajput, Environment Secretary Nabila Umar and Mines & Mineral Secretary Tahir Sangi.