PESHAWAR: Caretaker Provincial Minister for Local Government and Rural development Amir Nadeem Durrani has said that the caretaker government’s mandate is limited but our effort is to give a better roadmap to the next elected government. He said it is my desire to work for the betterment of the people adding that reforms in local government are the need of the hour. Appreciating the efforts of the Reforms Committee, he said the local government department should develop long and short-term plans. He expressed these views while presiding over the joint meeting of the Reforms Committees formed to review the problems and challenges faced by Urban Area Development Authorities, TMAs, WSSCs and Peshawar Development Authority here on Thursday. The meeting was held in the conference room of the local government which was attended by the members of the reforms’ committees. APP
At the meeting, the Provincial Caretaker Minister for Local Government was brief about establishment of the reforms committees and was told that Urban Area Development Authorities, TMAs, WSSCs and Peshawar Development Authority are facing various issues. The Reforms Committees were formed on November 29, 2023 to find a long-term and short-term solution of issues and challenges.
TORs of reforms committees were to bring forward the problems, challenges and make suggestions for their solutions. Several meetings of the committees were held and a detailed review of the existing system and opinions of experts were taken. The heads of the committees gave a detailed briefing to the caretaker provincial minister on the recommendations of the committees that reforms in the existing system are the need of the hour.
There is an urgent need for reforms to financially stabilize Urban Area Development Authorities, TMAs, WSSCs and Peshawar Development Authority. Recommendations were given regarding Urban Area Development Authorities to create service structure, pension and service rules for employees. Lease period should be extended. In the light of the decision of the fifth meeting of the Urban Area Development Authorities’ Board, the MD office should be made fully functional. Thus, it has been recommended to create a business model for Urban Area Development Authorities.
In this way, water and sanitation services companies should be financially independent and elected mayors should be represented in the boards of the company. Permission should be taken from the finance department for the recruitment of employees so that there is no excessive recruitment. A comparative review of the employees and income of TMAs was presented in the meeting. In recommendations a committee was proposed to be formed to determine the number of employees of TMAs. engineers should be recruited according to the quota.
On this occasion, the caretaker Provincial Minister for Local Government Amir Nadeem Durrani directed that the vacant posts of engineers should be sent to the KPPSC for recruitment, saying that the inclusion of engineers will increase the efficiency of the department.
